Dear Lighthouse Trails:
I would like to thank you for your continuing ministry particularly with regards to warning about Calvinism. I left a Calvary Chapel due in part with the leader and his ongoing support of Brian Brodersen who is clearly going down a contemplative route. But, I was interested to note in your current letter, that many Calvary Chapels are embracing Calvinism. While at that fellowship, on many occasions during sermons, weeknight studies, etc, much Calvinistic material was used with quotes from Piper, MacArthur et-al. Instead of the Bible, we would undertake studies of books by the likes of Tim Keller.
We now attend a very small fellowship comprised of folk who left the Calvary we used to attend. A very good friend of ours does most of the teaching, and we are going through John’s Gospel. He took 3 Sundays to teach on the issue of Calvinism and warn against what is in fact a heresy. At the end of the 3 Sunday’s, he distributed a paper put together by a close friend titled the “Protestant Pope” which is, in my opinion, a very good overview. Like me, this very close friend has the book by Kirkland which he has recently received. I have recently purchased the late Dave Hunt’s book “What Love is This” and also have his book “Tulip” to add to my library which also includes my friend’s book.
Keep up the good work and I wish you all a Very Happy New Year. God bless.
A.C.
LTRP Note: As many of our readers know, Lighthouse Trails published a book about Calvinism in 2018. Below is a chapter from that book, None Dare Call It Heresy: A Spotlight on the Teachings of John Calvin by Bob Kirkland. In view of the fast-growing influence of Calvinism and Reformed Theology in the church today (as the letter above illustrates), we are posting this below:
“Created to Choose and to Reason”
By Bob Kirkland
BACK TO THE BEGINNING
Genesis 1:26 says, “And God said, Let us make man in our image, after our likeness.” To be made in the image and likeness of God is multifaceted. Scripture, of course, makes it clear that man is not divine or a part of God, and it would be wrong for us to think so. However, it would also be wrong to minimize man to something he is not by stripping him of the abilities and attributes God has given him. So, even though Adam fell, man still has a soul. And man still has the ability to choose and to reason. These attributes were not taken from man when Adam fell as is very evident by simple observation. In Scripture, God commands the sinner to reason, to choose, and to repent. God’s grace operates in our lives in a viable active way (not a passive way).
But with Calvinism, grace is actually minimized, and God is made small by saying that the only way God can be sovereign is by allowing no free will at all (i.e., no choices, no reasoning). The Calvinist view has God operating in a way that is contrary to His original and unchanging design.
GOD GAVE ADAM A COMMAND
Genesis 2:15-17 says:
And the LORD God took the man, and put him into the garden of Eden to dress it and to keep it. And the LORD God commanded the man, saying, Of every tree of the garden thou mayest freely eat: But of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, thou shalt not eat of it: for in the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die.
As I pointed out earlier, A. W. Pink’s book The Sovereignty of God says man is “utterly incapable of willing anything.”1 What does the Bible say? It says, “God commanded the man.” If man was created without a free will and the ability to cause things to happen, there would be no need for this command or any other command found in the Scriptures.
In Genesis 3:6, we find Satan tempting Eve to disobey God. It says, “She took of the fruit thereof, and did eat, and gave also unto her husband with her; and he did eat.”
ADAM AND EVE MADE DECISIONS
Both Adam and Eve made a decision, each of their own free will, to disobey God. To suggest, as the Calvinists do, that God forced them to sin, we would have to change the verse above from “Thou shalt not eat of it” to “I will make you eat of it.” This is foolish and makes God the Author of sin. It is not only heresy, it is blasphemy! The Bible frequently describes God’s character and nature (e.g., Titus 1:2: God cannot lie), and He is described as a holy, righteous, loving, judging, honest, merciful, perfect God. He is never described as a God of sin; on the contrary, Scripture says, “God cannot be tempted with evil neither tempteth he any man” (James 1:13).
God confronted Adam and asked, “Hast thou eaten of the tree, whereof I commanded thee that thou shouldest not eat?” (Genesis 3:11). Verse 17 of chapter three continues:
And unto Adam he said, Because thou hast hearkened unto the voice of thy wife, and hast eaten of the tree, of which I commanded thee, saying, Thou shalt not eat of it: cursed is the ground for thy sake; in sorrow shalt thou eat of it all the days of thy life.
Adam chose to listen to Eve rather than obey God. As a result of choosing to sin, the spirit of man died and, therefore, must be “born again.” Jesus went into much detail concerning being “born again” in John chapter three. The Bible plainly teaches that when a person is convicted by the Holy Spirit to repent of his or her sin, a decision must be made. If man chooses to trust Christ as Savior, the spirit of man is “born again.” We read in Ephesians 2:1, “And you hath he quickened, who were dead in trespasses and sins.”
ADAM AND EVE SENT FROM THE GARDEN
God sent Adam and Eve from the garden because they could have used their free will to eat of the tree of life and live in their sinful state forever. Genesis 3, verses 22-24 read:
[A]nd now, lest he put forth his hand, and take also of the tree of life, and eat, and live for ever: Therefore the LORD God sent him forth from the garden of Eden, to till the ground from whence he was taken. So he drove out the man and he placed at the east of the garden of Eden Cherubims, and a flaming sword which turned every way, to keep the way of the tree of life.
There would have been no need for the Cherubims with the flaming sword if man did not have a free will; it was for the very reason that man had free will that God had to block the way for Adam to get to the tree of life! What kind of game do the Calvinists think God is playing?
CAIN AND ABEL MADE CHOICES
In Genesis 4, we read how Abel decided to follow God and Cain decided to do things his own way. Verse 16 says, “And Cain went out from the presence of the LORD.” Cain also decided to persecute the one who followed God, even to the death. To say God put it in the heart of Cain to go out from the presence of the Lord and then kill his brother is wicked, ridiculous, and attacks the very character of God.
HOW CALVINISTS NEED TO RE-INTERPRET THE CREATION ACCOUNT TO BE CONSISTENT
To support Calvin’s wicked-God theory, we would need to change the creation account to read, “In the beginning, God created the heaven and the earth . . . And God said, Let us make people with no free will. And then God said, ‘We will trick them into thinking they have a free will by saying . . . of every tree of the garden thou mayest freely eat. But of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, thou shalt not eat of it: for in the day that thou eatest thereof, thou shalt surely die.’ We will let them think they can choose to disobey.”
Calvin’s distorted account would also need to say, “Because they didn’t really have a free will, God ordained it from the beginning for them to eat the fruit thereof. Then God confronted Adam and asked, Hast thou eaten of the tree, whereof I commanded thee that thou shouldest not eat? . . . Cursed is the ground for thy sake; in sorrow shalt thou eat of it all the days of thy life.” Concerning Cain and Abel, the story would need to be changed to read, “God then forced Cain to kill his brother and then put a curse upon him for doing it.”
It should be noted here that Calvinists (as did John Calvin) confuse God’s foreknowledge with predestination (or even just disregard foreknowledge altogether). God knew that Judas would betray Jesus for thirty pieces of silver ahead of time according to Zechariah 11:12-13, but God had no hand in making these things happen. God also knew that the Jewish people would be scattered throughout the world; and even though they would prosper wherever they went, they would also be hated and persecuted among the nations. But God never sanctioned the persecution and attempted annihilation of the Jews under Hitler’s regime. Instead, we read in Scripture “And I will bless them that bless thee, and curse him that curseth thee: and in thee shall all families of the earth be blessed” (Genesis 12:3) and “he that toucheth you toucheth the apple of his eye” (Zechariah 2:8). The persecutors of the Jews, as in the case of Adolph Hitler, were therefore held fully responsible for what they did.
But the Calvinist is locked into a fatalistic view where God preordains everything and therefore approves of everything. Hence, Scripture, like the above verses, must be twisted and distorted to accommodate a malicious “God.”
GOD COMMANDS PEOPLE TO TRUST HIM—Psalm 4:5: “put your trust in the LORD.”
Trust in the LORD. (Psalm 37:3)
GOD FORCES NOBODY TO TRUST HIM
. . . trusted not in his salvation. (Psalm 78:22)
. . . trusted in thy wickedness. (Isaiah 47:10)
. . . trusted in falsehood. (Jeremiah 13:25)
. . . trusted in thy works. (Jeremiah 48:7)
. . . trusted in her treasures. (Jeremiah 49:4)
MAN IS COMMANDED TO SUBMIT
. . . submit yourselves. (1 Corinthians 16:16)
. . . submit yourselves. (Ephesians 5:22)
. . . submit yourselves. (Colossians 3:18)
. . . submit yourselves. (Hebrews 13:17)
. . . submit yourselves. (James 4:7)
. . . submit yourselves. (1 Peter 2:13)
. . . submit yourselves. (1 Peter 5:5)
GOD NEVER FORCES ANYONE TO SUBMIT
. . . they hearkened not. (Exodus 6:9)
. . . they hearkened not. (Exodus 16:20)
. . . they hearkened not. (1 Samuel 2:25)
. . . they hearkened not. (2 Kings 21:9)
. . . they hearkened not. (Jeremiah 7:24)
. . . they hearkened not. (Jeremiah 7:26)
. . . they hearkened not. (Jeremiah 36:31)
MAN IS COMMANDED TO “REASON” ABOUT SALVATION
Isaiah 1:18 says:
Come now, and let us reason together, saith the LORD: though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they be red like crimson, they shall be as wool.
Matthew 16:7 says, “. . . they reasoned.”
Matthew 21:25 says, “. . . they reasoned.”
Mark 2:8 says, “. . . they reasoned.”
Mark 8:16 says, “. . . they reasoned.”
Mark 11:31 says, “. . . they reasoned.”
Luke 20:5 says, “. . . they reasoned.”
Luke 20:14 says, “. . . they reasoned.”
Acts 18:4 says, “. . . he reasoned and persuaded.”
Acts 24:25 says, “. . . he reasoned . . . Felix trembled.”
Acts 28:29 says, “. . . the Jews departed, and had great reasoning among themselves.”
AFTER REASONING, MAN HAS A FREE WILL TO COME TO HiS OWN DECISION
We read in Mark 2:6 that the scribes Jesus spoke to were, “. . . reasoning in their hearts.” Mark 7:9 tells us after their reasoning, they made a decision. Jesus rebuked them for their decision (but did not force them to change) saying, “[Y]e reject the commandment of God.” Hosea 4:6 refers to those who “rejected knowledge.” Second Kings 17:15 says, “They rejected his statutes, and his covenant.” Contrary to Calvinism, man can reason concerning salvation, and man can reject or receive the salvation God offers him through the Gospel of Jesus Christ.
GOD COMMANDS MAN TO WALK IN HIS WAYS, BUT HE FORCES NO ONE
Isaiah 30:21 says, “This is the way, walk ye in it.” Psalm 81:12 states, “. . . they walked in their own counsels.”
GOD COMMANDS MAN TO BE HOLY BUT HE FORCES NOBODY
Leviticus 20:7 says “[B]e ye holy: for I am the LORD your God.” Deuteronomy 9:12 says, “. . . [they] corrupted themselves.”
FREE WILL AND THE TEN COMMANDMENTS
Thou shalt have no other gods before me. (Exodus 20:3)
. . . served other gods. (Deuteronomy 17:3)
Thou shalt not make . . . any graven image. (Exodus 20:4)
. . . moved him to jealousy with their graven images. (Psalm 78:58)
Thou shalt not take the name of the LORD thy God in vain. (Exodus 20:7)
For they . . . take thy name in vain. (Psalm 139:20)
Remember the sabbath day, to keep it holy. (Exodus 20:8)
. . . ye do, and profane the sabbath day? (Nehemiah 13:17)
Honour thy father and thy mother. (Exodus 20:12)
. . . children . . . rise up against their parents. (Matthew 10:21)
Thou shalt not kill. (Exodus 20:13)
They . . . murder the fatherless. (Psalm 94:6)
Thou shalt not commit adultery. (Exodus 20:14)
[T]hey commit adultery. (Jeremiah 23:14)
Thou shalt not steal. (Exodus 20:15)
[S]teal no more. (Ephesians 4:28)
Thou shalt not bear false witness. (Exodus 20:16)
[F]alse witnesses are risen up against me. (Psalm 27:12)
Thou shalt not covet. (Exodus 20:17)
I coveted them, and took them. (Joshua 7:21)
CALVIN’S TEACHING OF UNCONDITIONAL ELECTION
According to Calvinism, if we are to be saved, God chooses (elects) us to salvation. Calvinism teaches, “A man is not saved because he believes in Christ; he believes in Christ because he is saved.” In other words,
The elect of God are chosen by Him to be His children, in order that they might be made to believe, not because He foresaw that they would believe.2 (emphasis added)
MORE HERESY
By his unconditional election theory, Calvin meant that some are elected to Heaven while others are elected to Hell. It is wholly on God’s part, and we have nothing to do with our eternal destiny. This means God decided before we were born that we are going to burn in Hell forever or be in Heaven forever. We are simply a pawn in God’s big chess game. Calvinism further teaches that God could be glorified by bringing your family into the world for the express purpose of tormenting them in Hell for eternity. This is wickedness and is not the God of the Bible!
Lest you think I have misrepresented John Calvin, we will let him speak for himself. In his Institutes of the Christian Religion, Volume 3, Calvin stated:
[S]ome are preordained to eternal life, others to eternal damnation; and, accordingly, as each has been created for one or other of these ends, we say that he has been predestinated to life or to death.3
This is the view you will find throughout the teachings and sermons of Calvinist preachers and authors.
Why Are People Even Drawn to Calvinism?
As we are witnessing today, many people are being drawn to Calvinism (including many young people). In our age of uncertainty, Calvinism seems to offer some security in the thought that God has preordained everything. This would presumably put some order into our chaotic world.
Unfortunately, once someone has become fully engulfed in Calvinism, it offers no true security. It leaves a person without knowing what direction things will go but with clinging to nothing more than a fatalistic view of life—where things are locked in, and there is nothing anyone can do about it.
Unfortunately, Calvinism is a direct attack on the Gospel. The Gospel is activated by faith (whosoever believeth) but the fatalism of Calvinism can say no more than “what will be will be.” This is not biblical faith but actually a form of unbelief in that it leaves the recipient in doubt of his future. Although Calvinism seems to offer hope, in reality and in truth, it leaves a person in a lifelong quest of wondering if he is one of the elect. How totally opposite this is to the Gospel the Bible offers where the Good News of Jesus Christ offers hope and belief in it offers certainty:
Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen. (Hebrews 11:1)
These things have I written unto you that believe on the name of the Son of God; that ye may know that ye have eternal life, and that ye may believe on the name of the Son of God. (1 John 5:13)
Endnotes:
1. A.W. Pink, The Sovereignty of God, op. cit., p. 113.
2. Lorraine Boettner, The Reformed Doctrine of Predestination (Phillipsburg, NJ: Presbyterian and Reformed Publishing Company, 1932, 14th printing), page 101, citing Augustine.
3. John Calvin, Institutes of the Christian Religion, Vol. 3, op. cit., chapter 21, section 5, Kindle location 17221.
Bob Kirkland’s book, None Dare Call It Heresy was published by Lighthouse Trails in 2018. It is available in print, PDF, epub, and mobi on the Lighthouse Trails web store and can also be purchased through many online and walk-in stores.
(photo from bigstockphoto.com; used with permission)
In the message I heard on March 10, 2024, you seem to refer to God “choosing” people and others who were not elected ( therefore left out of heaven by what would appear to be a prejudicial God.). Isn’t this dangerous since those of us who reject 5 point Calvinism believe that the “choosing” is corporate and not individual? Yes, God can anoint individuals but the picking and choosing of individuals with some left out is not scriptural no matter what Scriptures the Sproul guys try to twist. The choice is up to the individual and as a pastor, I am seeing this 5-point cancer afflict the universities and some churches like an arrogant aura of superiority. Please say that you reject the heresy of 5-point Calvinism. If not, where do we go from here?
Calvinism as a belief system – increases and decreases in waves because the foundational core of Calvinism is EXHAUSTIVE DIVINE DETERMINISM – as enunciated within Calvinism’s doctrine of decrees.
When the Calvinist population at any given time starts to pace an emphasis on holding the doctrine in a logically coherent manner – that process serves to reduce the Calvinist population – because the doctrine stipulates that every impulse that comes to pass within every human brain – is 100% predestined – and cannot possibly be other than what it was decreed to infallibly be.
It is humanly impossible to live coherently with such a doctrine – and at the same time retain one’s sense of human normalcy – and also retain congruence with the general narrative of scripture.
For example – there is no such thing as humans having choice in that doctrine – because an infallible decree does not grant the existence of “Alternatives” for humans to choose between.
Calvinist leaders understand this – and work very hard to try to keep the Calvinist population from being logically coherent with the doctrine.
Unfortunately – Calvinist leaders also have an intense urgency to advertise the theology. And consequently – lower themselves to the deployment of dishonest marketing strategies in order to do so.
Calvinist language – has consequently evolved into a library of talking-points – many of which are cleverly crafted lies of omission – designed to hide the TRUE face of the doctrine behind semantic masks.
We need to pray for the Lord to give Christians wisdom so as to not be seduced by the spiritual pride and the promise of being a superior Christian – which is what Calvinism uses to bait and draw believers into its web with.
Hi Mike,I hope you read this. Just a couple comments about Augustine. Did Augustine give us the worship of Mary? Did he say at the mass that the wafer was the Lord Jesus actual body and that the Lord Jesus is crucified over again at every mass? Did he give us the Priest craft that sends us to confession of our sins to the Priest instead of to God the Father thru our Advocate the Lord Jesus Christ? Now about the nugget you talked about. The Garden tells me that All have sinned and come short of the Glory of God.
Hi Mike,I hope you read this. Just a couple comments about Augustine. Did Augustine give us the worship of Mary? Did he say at the mass that the wafer was the Lord Jesus actual body and that the Lord Jesus is crucified over again at every mass? Did he give us the Priest craft that sends us to confession of our sins to the Priest instead of to God the Father thru our Advocate the Lord Jesus Christ? Now about the nugget you talked about. The Garden tells me that All have sinned and come short of the Glory of God. There is not one verse in the Bible that says God sent anyone to Hell.
God does the saving after we believe in the finished work of our Lord Jesus Christ. For God so loved the World that he gave His only Begotten-Son. All that any sinner has to do believe on The Lord Jesus Christ and thou will be saved.
this is from one Calvary Chapel in the UK
http://calvarysoton.co.uk/neither-arminian-nor-calvinist/
It is best to take each Calvary Chapel on it’s own. Our church, Calvary Chapel of Paso Robles CA is sola scriptura, not in any way following the current “rages” of Contemplative Prayer, Calvinism, emerging church etc., etc. ad nauseam Book by book, verse by verse. Solid Bible teaching. We’re a very small congregation but clearly, numbers are not indicative of or lack there of, the presence of God
“For whatever is born of God overcomes the world. And this is the victory that has overcome the world—our faith. Who is he who overcomes the world, but he who believes that Jesus is the Son of God?”
A believer has no power to keep himself being saved. It is by God’s grace that he is kept being saved until the end.
“Now to Him who is able to keep you from stumbling,
And to present you faultless
Before the presence of His glory with exceeding joy,
To God our Savior,
Who alone is wise,
Be glory and majesty,
Dominion and power,
Both now and forever.
Amen.”
The word faith in strongs concordance pis’-tis From G3982; persuasion, that is, credence; moral conviction (of religious truth, or the truthfulness of God or a religious teacher), especially reliance upon Christ for salvation; abstractly constancy in such profession; by extension the system of religious (Gospel) truth itself: – assurance, belief, believe, faith, fidelity.
Rev 3:5 He that overcometh, the same shall be clothed in white raiment; and I will not blot out his name out of the book of life, but I will confess his name before my Father, and before his angels.
Paul says we are indwelt and sealed with the Holy Spirit unto the day of redemption (Ephesians 1:13-14, 4:30). He never talks about or warns about losing the seal of the Holy Spirit. Paul says we are baptized into the body of Christ (1 Corinthians 12:13). We are now in Christ Jesus (1 Corinthians 1:30). He never talks about or refers to a person getting out of Christ. In 1 Timothy 4:1 Paul warns that some shall depart from the faith. He didn’t say some shall lose or leave their salvation. The faith refers to the truths of scripture passed down to us. Departing from the faith could refer to believers getting caught up in false doctrine but most likely refers to lost people in the church That’s why in 2 Corinthians 13:5 Paul says to examine yourselves, whether ye be in the faith. John says, “They went out from us, but they were not of us; for if they had been of us, they would no doubt have continued with us: but they went out, that they might be made manifest that they were not all of us” (1 John 2:19).
In response to Jay, you say two truths cannot be contradictory, which is true. However, the issue here is your wrong understanding of one of those truths, of what “sovereignty and fore-ordaining and oredestination” really is. And if you understand one truth wrong, it will indeed conflict with other biblical truths. A biblical view of sovereignty is not “God causing everything”. It is sometimes causing, sometimes just allowing, but knowing how to work it all into His plans. Also, fore-ordaining does not always mean pre-planning and causing. Sometimes it’s about God simply allowing what He knows He can work into His plans. (Romans 13:1 says God established all leaders. Yet in Hosea 8:4, God criticizes Israel for setting up kings without His consent and choosing princes without His approval. Clearly, that God established (ordains) all leaders doesn’t mean He pre-planned all leaders and chose all leaders. Sometimes “ordaining” simply means He gave the people what they wanted, and let them face the consequences of it.). And predestining in the Bible isn’t about God prechoosing where we will go in the end. Oftentimes, it’s about God’s plans that believers will grow to be more like Christ and reflect His glory. Misunderstanding truth will lead to contradictions.
1 John 2:19 They went out from us, but they were not of us; for if they had been of us, they would no doubt have continued with us: but they went out, that they might be made manifest that they were not all of us.
1Ti 4:1 Now the Spirit speaketh expressly, that in the latter times some shall depart from the faith, giving heed to seducing spirits, and doctrines of devils;
Romans 8 35. Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword? 36. As it is written, For thy sake we are killed all the day long; we are accounted as sheep for the slaughter. 37. Nay, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him that loved us. 38. For I am persuaded, that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come, 39. Nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.
Craig, your gift within the body of Christ may be to point out the Pauline epistles, my gift may be to help people including myself to be repentant of our sins and overcomers, I say both are beneficial. I love to point people to the revelation of Jesus Christ in especially the 1st. 3 chapters of revelation and His message to the churches.
I’m sorry Ralph, but your point is vague in regards to the issue of Calvinism. If you are concerned with where you stand with God right now you’d better focus on the Pauline epistles. God chose Paul to be the apostle to the Gentiles and gave him the fullest and most complete revelation concerning the body of Christ. Salvation is a gift from God that we receive by faith. When you believe the gospel you are indwelt and sealed by the Holy Spirit unto the day of redemption (the day we get our resurrection bodies).
Craig, my point is to be amongst the overcomes right now.
Ralph; I don’t know what the point is you were making.
Craig, are you responding to my post? Please consider Rev. 3:14-22 for how it relates to the saved. I agree the unsaved can also relate to this teaching, however I believe the deeper meaning is to the saved in our relationship with the Almighty.
God in Jesus Christ completed the work of salvation, but each individual has to make a choice to believe the gospel.
I want to start by thanking God for His Spirit bring order into our chaos and form to life and worship. I am also thankful for Lighthouse trails coming along side to help shed the light of God’s word on the entrance of false teaching and the practice of contemplative meditation. I agree that truth sets us free and in this most recent turn to charge Augustinian Reformed teachings as heresy is a sad turn indeed. I will restrict my comments here to one observation that I truly hope will help you and others to understand your error. I believe there is a huge misunderstanding with the idea of “free will”. Yes we have it but here is the nugget. Do we forget that our wills are greatly affected by our fallen nature since the garden experience? Please read and meditate on that as you read scripture. Peace be with you all.
“God is not limited like we are to to the 4 dimensions: length, width, depth and very importantly the 4th dimension of time.” But we are limited to what God has told us in His word. Election has to do with God’s plan and purposes for Israel and their Jesus their Messiah. Predestination has to do with God’s plans for the believer and has nothing to do with a lost person getting saved.
1 Corinthians 1:26-31 Glory Only in the Lord 26 For you see your calling, brethren, that not many wise according to the flesh, not many mighty, not many noble, are called. 27 But God has chosen the foolish things of the world to put to shame the wise, and God has chosen the weak things of the world to put to shame the things which are mighty; 28 and the base things of the world and the things which are despised God has chosen, and the things which are not, to bring to nothing the things that are, 29 that no flesh should glory in His presence. 30 But of Him you are in Christ Jesus, who became for us wisdom from God—and righteousness and sanctification and redemption— 31 that, as it is written, “He who glories, let him glory in the Lord.
Craig, you’re so right. As an aside, and I wish I were making this up, I once asked a Calvinist why he even bothered spreading his “gospel” at the local mall and the town centre. His reply was: “In case the elect hear it.” I still don’t know how to respond to such an absurdity. The God I know, the God of the Bible, turns no one away when they call on His name and when they believe on His Son. What is this Calvinists’ “god”?
Please consider Rev.3::14-22. KJB. Let’s all try to unlearn the doctrines of men that most of us have all been taught. Remember God is not limited like we are to to the 4 dimensions: length, width, depth and very importantly the 4th dimension of time.
Predestination has to do with God’s will for a person after they get saved. It has nothing to do with a person getting saved.
Does God have free will,?indeed he does. Can God will himself to sin? indeed he cannot. Can God will himself to change? Indeed he cannot for he is immutable, the same yesterday, today and forever. Can God with his free will change any of his divine attributes? No. Can God choose to commit suicide? Indeed he cannot. God is all knowing is all powerful is present everyplace past present and future. Is there anything that he cannot know? Indeed there is not. Before creation He knew who would betray Jesus. God knew that Jesus would be rejected. God knew that God the Son would be crucified not imprisoned for life or stoned like Steven. Is our creator God independent or dependent upon his creation? Can he will himself to become dependent upon creation? No. Can God lie and inspire false errant scriptures? No. God has absolute free will yet even God cannot choose to behave in ways outside of His divine nature. That is a great and good thing, a blessed assurance. All scripture is God breathed therefore one scripture cannot be more true more correct than another. It can all be reconciled into one true truth.
Calvinism teaches perseverance of the saints which means they believe if a person is saved they will persevere to the end. As a result many Calvinists start worrying about this and start focusing on doing good works to prove they are one of the “elect” and are persevering. This is actually not much different than the Arminian who works to keep their salvation. Both positions are unscriptural. When a person gets saved they are indwelt and sealed by the Holy Spirit unto the day of redemption. Unlike what some Calvary Chapel churches teach you cannot leave your salvation and you certainly can’t lose it!
Calvinists have told me, without blinking and without apology, that God knew Adam and Eve would sin (yes, He foreknew that), but they’ve made it clear that they believe that was His plan from the beginning, since the Messiah is mentioned there in the early chapters of Genesis. As this insightful article makes clear, they do not distinguish between foreknowledge and predestination.
Calvinism/Reformed Theology. the mystic, gnostic views of men like the ‘untouchable’ MacArthur, Johnson, RC Sproul, Piper, Calvin, Luther, Augustine, the so-called ‘Puritans” and their murderous spree in Boston back then, all the “men” conferences (as though the Bible does not tell you how to be one; the blatant condescending behaviors against women are all FOREIGN to the Word of God. So, I ask, from where does it come? Who sits behind it? Let’s add every fake ‘counseling’ service this major cult has in its different weekly indoctrinating/indoctrination meetings they call church [which is all man-worship based]. Stay clear of these pseudo-counselors. They have nothing to do with the God of the Bible. Please, even if an angel comes and preached a false gospel, let him be accursed. So, let this lot be accursed until they accept the gift of salvation and not determine and make themselves that. Until then . . . bye bye, back to your real father.
Jack Hibbs hero Jerry Boykin. Interview part 1: https://www.bing.com/videos/search?q=jack+hibbs+and+jerry+boykin&view=detail&mid=59F59EEEC7F5676C488159F59EEEC7F5676C4881&FORM=VIRE
Not all Calvary Chapels have gone in the wrong direction. Pastor JD Faraq of CC Kaneohe in Hawaii and Pastor Jack Hibbs of CC Chino Hills in CA are speaking truth and doing prophesy conferences. They are true men of God and are not compromising. Thank you.
Dear Mr. Millhorn: can you tell me how much of what kind of sin will get me unsaved, unsealed, unredeemed, unborn, unconverted, unadopted, unregenerated, unpropitiated, etc.? God’s grace saves and God’s grace keeps those who are saved. I, like most Bible believing Christians, follow neither Calvin nor Arminius. I would admonish you to not relegate those who believe they are eternally secure due to the promises of God’s word to the realm of Calvin.
I read sermons from various men, I receive newsletters from various ministries, and here is one thing that has been standing out about what they are saying. “even required faith is a gift from God. We do not generate our own faith.” or ‘I received the gift of faith to be saved.’ Every time I read works like these I get sick in side. One of the ministry’s is for former Adventist’s and the other is a prominent ministry for former Roman Catholic’s. What I’m seeing is ‘leading people out of the cult they are in and into another cult.’ It really is sad. One of them I asked ‘are you a Calvinist’ and he said no. But I can tell you that what they are teaching is the opposite. A popular radio program’s leader claims the same thing, “I’m not a Calvinist and I I don’t know what Calvinism is” but he agrees with John MacArthur that you can take the mark of the beast and still be saved. A blatant lie, but people still go on his show, even people we know, and beside that he has a Nights of Malta man, John Guandolo who writes articles for him- no different than Calvary Chapel’s Nights of malta speaker – Jerry Boykin. Ministry’s having a blind eye just to get their message out.
DIVINE SOVREIGNTY That God predestines, and that man is responsible, are two things that few can see. They are believed to be inconsistent and contradictory; but they are not. It is just the fault of our weak judgment. Two truths cannot be contradictory to each other. If, then, I find taught in one place that everything is fore-ordained, that is true, and if I find in another place that man is responsible for his actions, that is true; and it is my folly that leads me to imagine that two truths can ever contradict each other. These two truths, I do not believe, can ever be welded into one upon any human anvil, but one they shall be in eternity: they are two lines that are so nearly parallel, that the mind that shall pursue them farthest, will never discover that they converge; but they do converge, and they will meet somewhere in eternity, close to the throne of God, whence all truth doth spring… You ask me to reconcile the two. I answer, they do not want any reconcilement; I never tried to reconcile them to myself, because I could never see a discrepancy… Both are true; no two truths can be inconsistent with each other; and what you have to do is believe them both. [Charles Spurgeon] August 1, 1858 Charles Spurgeon
I need to disagree with the writer. I am in Sovereign Grace church. We believe in free will. Holy Spirit guides us. Saved by grace. The blood of Christ paid for our sins. Abba God loves us and we rely on his love and mercy. We believe the bible is authoritive.
Thank you so much for your ongoing ministry. I’ve enjoyed reading your articles from the twitter link for a good number of months now. I’m so glad that someone has the courage to speak out and against the heresy of OSAS Calvinistic junk. I wrote a feeble book about it in the 90’s, but you guys are really great. Over and Over again, you’ve taught things that very needed ……..like exposing the cults and the cultic invasion of the body of Christ…….Thank you, Thank you, Thank you much