The False Calvinist Gospel blog

The False Calvinist Gospel blog

There is much false teaching in the world today, especially within what many like to call “The Church”. People are declared Christians because they speak in tongues or demonstrate spiritual manifestations such as Toronto, or they attend worship on Saturdays, or they go to mass, or they go to confession, or they relentlessly knock on doors, etc. But one group largely escapes the critical eye of those who seek out false doctrines. It is a group of people who claim to be more Biblical, with a higher view of God’s sovereignty, people who claim to be more scholarly than the rest (and therefore to trust them because they “know” more). They are generally well-accepted among fundamentalist believers because they, very importantly, appear to believe like them. They claim that their truth is the gospel, yet preach the gospel of the people who are not of their group. (They only preach their gospel to those who have already been won to their cause.) They claim their “truth” is better, yet do not preach it widely nor openly to the uninitiated.

And who are these false teachers? They are those who claim to be calvinist, reformed, or of the doctrines of grace, etc. They claim that calvinism is the gospel, yet not one person will ever be won for Christ by the preaching of the calvinist gospel alone. (The calvinist gospel is that list of calvinist distinctives known as TULIP, which was presented to the Synod of Dort in 1618-19, which are those distinctive doctrines which define calvinism as different from non-calvinist fundamentalists.) Only the gospel of Christ as presented in the Bible is able to save to the uttermost. But the calvinist continues to hold to his cry that “Calvinism is the gospel”!

This is the calvinist gospel (T.U.L.I.P.):

(a) Total depravity (or Total Inability) – The total absence of free will for man to ever be able to choose this day whom he would serve. That is, God chooses who will be saved. Whoever is chosen for salvation will go to heaven; those not chosen for salvation go to hell. (According to some calvinist beliefs, man may be permitted to sin, even be able to choose to sin, yet not have the free will to not choose sin!)

(b) Unconditional Election – The selection by God, from the beginning of time, of an elect (read “elite”) group who would go to heaven without any condition being required of man. That is, God’s choice did not depend in any way upon any quality of goodness or lack thereof in your life. Nothing you (nor anyone else) can do can ever influence God’s choice concerning you one way or the other. Effectively, this makes any kind of Biblical evangelism quite redundant, for according to this teaching, if you are on that list of elect, you will be regenerated (their term for “being saved”); if you are not one of the elect, you will not be regenerated, ever. No Biblical evangelism can ever logically make any difference at all!

(c) Limited Atonement – The atonement for sins on the cross to be limited to only those whom God has unconditionally chosen to be His elect. It is sometimes called “particular atonement” or “definite atonement” or “effectual atonement” – these various terms are designed to draw your attention away from the fact that they teach that the atonement for sins is limited only to the elect). Effectively, therefore, if you are not one of the elect, you cannot ever be saved because the calvinist Jesus never died for your sins. He only died for the 1% that God chose for heaven; the other 99% can never be saved, even if they wanted to be. That is, the calvinist God made absolutely no provision for any gospel of salvation for the 99% non-elect of the world. According to the calvinist, they were born with only one option from the start: eternal torment in hell.
(Some calvinists claim that the elect of God were important enough for Jesus to die for their sins, thus leaving open the implication that the non-elect were not important enough! See MacArthur teaches works salvation)

(d) Irresistible Grace – The total inability of man to resist the call of the Holy Spirit if and when he (man) is called for “regeneration”. (Regeneration is their term for “being born again”; it is rare to find a calvinist using the term “being saved”.) That is, if you are one of the elect of God, then when God calls you to regeneration, you will come; you will not be able to resist the call of the Holy Spirit to be saved. Effectively, if you are one of the elect, you cannot avoid, refuse, or resist God’s call. It is your destiny!
(In fact, the phrase “It is your destiny” effectively applies to every person on earth, 1% to salvation, the remaining 99% to hell. Note also that the Holy Spirit, according to the calvinist, will never call any of the 99% non-elect to salvation! It never was their destiny at any time, ever.)

(e) Perseverance of the Saints – The perseverance of the elect to continue faithfully until they enter heaven. That is, if you don’t persevere in your “faithful” works until the end, you never were one of the elect in the first place. It is effectively the same as “once saved, always saved”. While calvinists often deny that a person can be “once saved, always saved” as “easy-believism”, they do teach that once you are born again as one of God’s elect, you cannot lose your eternal salvation in heaven. I cannot see any significant difference between the two!
Once regenerated, an elect person cannot backslide, cannot lose his/her salvation, ever. (Because this strongly suggests a somewhat holy perfection of the Christian, some prefer to say the elect person cannot backslide significantly, but neglect to define “significantly”.) Backsliding, which in calvinist teaching is characterised by leaving regular church worship and other Christian activities, demonstrates that your faith may have been only temporary; that is, you never were really one of the elect in the first place. This was a teaching of John Calvin, who termed it “an inferior operation of the Spirit”! (Calvin’s Institutes Bk 3 Ch 2 Section 41)

Thus, the new calvinist, while attempting to appear evangelical and fundamentalist, fails miserably on both accounts. For the calvinist can offer absolutely no gospel of hope for 99% of the world, and the other 1% will be regenerated by the calvinist God even if they never hear the gospel. In fact, the calvinist teaches that it is only after a person is regenerated that he is able to believe in Jesus and His gospel of salvation.
A man is not saved because he believes in Christ; he believes in Christ because he is saved.” (Page 75, The Reformed Doctrine of Predestination – Loraine Boettner)

The gospel of calvinism may be outlined as follows:

(a) If you were chosen by the calvinist God (clearly because you were important enough and valuable enough to be chosen – see MacArthur teaches works salvation), then you are going to heaven, all expenses covered, nothing required to be paid, nor even any action required. You will be notified in due time when God decides it’s time for you to be regenerated, and from then you are bound for heaven. We assume that’s OK with you? Of course, the calvinist God will ensure that you are important enough and valuable enough to warrant that salvation. He will create you as the right kind of person to inhabit heaven. Only 1% (or less) of mankind will enjoy such special privileges. It is your destiny to be special!

(b) If you were not chosen by the calvinist God (because he didn’t create you with sufficient importance nor value to be worth dying for), then you are going to hell, without any other option at all. Of course, all your expenses will be paid too, including your ticket to hell; and there’s nothing you have to do to get there, either, just sit back and enjoy (or otherwise) the ride! You will not be regenerated, nor saved, nor born again, or anything that might give you a chance at the calvinist heaven. While the calvinist God had infinite funds to pay for all mankind, he really only wanted to save a very small number of people (and that is his right, too!). He didn’t bother putting aside any provision for you to go anywhere except hell where you will pay for it for all eternity!

MacArthur says “God did not intend to save everyone.  He is God.  He could have intended to save everyone.  He could have saved everyone.  He would have if that had been His intention.  The atonement is limited.
(“The Doctrine of Actual Atonement, Part 1”)
So, I’m sorry to have to tell the non-elect (the 99% or more of mankind) that the calvinist God did not intend saving you. He is God. He can do what he wants. He did not intend saving everyone. He could have intended saving you, but that was never his intention!
So, likewise, it is your destiny! Get used to it! After all, it will be your destiny for a very long time, eternity, in fact!

For further reading, please see The False Calvinist Gospel.

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If you wish to read other documents on the heresies of calvinism, please use this link.

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Is MacArthur a Freemason?

Is MacArthur a Freemason?

MacArthur (of Grace Community Church) makes a lot of his claims that he is so Biblical in his teaching, with Unleashing God’s Truth, One Verse at a Time heading each of his online documents. He does teach but one verse at a time, as a result notably ignoring many contextual truths in his efforts to teach false doctrines, thus denying his claim to be teaching God’s truth! It would be a vast improvement on the accuracy of his teachings if he were to teach using the consistency of many verses at the same time. It can be truly said that just about anything can be taught using one verse at a time, while genuine Scriptural doctrine is best taught using all relevant verses at a time! But so many people believe MacArthur because he sounds so genuine in his claims to be so Biblical. It’s a pity they don’t check out his teachings first.

Of course, a lot of people have read this document, and not one yet has attempted to demonstrate that MacArthur is not a freemason; obviously no-one is willing to deny such an accusation! Or else they’d tell me otherwise, wouldn’t they? Silence is always taken as an inability to defend. Does such silence mean that MacArthur serves the same god as freemasonry? Please feel free to comment on the  Contact page. Comments and replies are recorded on the Comments page.

So many of those gullible people (who consider MacArthur to be incapable of ever making a doctrinal mistake) just accept what he says as gospel truth. When he states that the Granville Sharp rule (of Greek) demonstrates that God’s foreknowledge is predetermined by God (Acts 2:23), people then quote it as absolute truth, disregarding the fact that MacArthur has misused this rule either deliberately or through sheer incompetence. (See MacArthur is Wrong). Or his misuse of the rules of Hebrew parallelism in a vain attempt to demonstrate that “many” cannot mean the same as “many” if the word is used twice in the same verse (Romans 5:15) and that “all” cannot mean the same as “all” if the word is used twice in the same verse (Romans 5:18). (See MacArthur is Wrong – Again!)

Some people have stated that MacArthur is opposed to Freemasonry, so I searched to see what he said about them – see the following from True Worship Pt 3.
Now, that (Masonry) is a religion.  Anything that says it’s a divinely appointed institution, designed to draw men nearer to God, to give them a clear conception of their proper relationship to God, to men and the ultimate destiny of their human soul, that’s a religion.  Masonry is a religion even though they don’t want to admit it. ……..

…… Well, I think you understand, that’s enough, frankly, to sicken anyone because that’s (i.e. Masonry) a Satanic false religion.  It is unacceptable.  And there are myriads of such unacceptable kinds of worship.  And destiny is determined by that.  You may think you’re worshipping God, but you’re not.
(https://www.gty.org/library/print/sermons-library/2006)

So it does appear as if MacArthur has correctly understood that freemasonry is a satanic false religion, one that seeks to serve its master, satan. Freemasonry is indeed satanism, witchcraft, false worship of the worst kind. You would also expect that if MacArthur personally knew of any freemasons, he would openly condemn their false religion of worshipping satan. So, let’s see what our research reveals!

MacArthur wrote in A Father’s Legacy in 2005:
My Dad, Dr. John “Jack” MacArthur, was born March 30, 1914, in Calgary, Alberta, to Harry and Olivia Fullerton MacArthur. His mother’s father was a Presbyterian minister on Prince Edward Island, and his father, who dedicated his life to Christ as an adult, served as a pastor and an example for his young son. …….
My grandfather took over the church’s pastorate in 1943 as Dad moved to Fountain Avenue Baptist Church in Hollywood, California. At Fountain Avenue, Dad helped establish the Holly wood Christian group, an outreach to people in the film and television industries. He counted Roy Rogers and Dale Evans, who came to Christ under his preaching, as close personal friends.
(https://www.voiceofcalvaryradio.com/legacy3.htm)

In “A Father’s Legacy”, MacArthur makes two interesting statements. One is that his father’s maternal grandfather (Thomas Fullerton) and therefore MacArthur’s great grandfather, was a Presbyterian minister on Prince Edward Island.
MacArthur also praises the spiritual harvest that has resulted from that ministry of his great grandfather Thomas Fullerton:
The good news is, when the soil is prepared by God, there’s going to be an explosion of spiritual fruit and the harvest will go on and on and on and on and on and on. A nice young man in our church was recently in Prince Edward Island and I had said in the church service that my great grandfather was a pastor of St. James Kirk Presbyterian Kirk in Prince Edward Island back in the 1800’s. So when he was up there, he started digging around and found all kinds of things about my great grandfather. Thomas Fullerton was his name and he was pastor there at the main church in Charletown(?) (Charlottetown) for about twenty-eight years. He was a chaplain in the Canadian Military and he went to the Bower(?) (Boer) War in South Africa and fought and did ministry among the troops. And you look back and that and you say, “Okay, there’s a…his father was also a pastor who had been in Scotland and then gone to Australia and come there and at some point the Lord plowed the heart of that family and it just kept going and it just kept going and it kept going and it came down through my…from my great-grandfather to my grandmother, his daughter, and then through her to my father and then through me and this is the explosion and we’re all in this process somewhere.
(https://www.gty.org/library/print/sermons-library/41-18)

Up until now it looks like MacArthur (according to his statements) belongs to a great evangelistic family with a spiritual harvest that we might tend to assume was somewhat akin to a vibrant Christian missionary ministry. It says of Thomas Fullerton’s father (MacArthur’s great great grandfather) in “A Father’s Legacy” that he dedicated his life to Christ as an adult, serving as a pastor and an example for his young son (who would have been MacArthur’s great grandfather, Thomas Fullerton). (Or it says of MacArthur’s father’s father that he was an example for his young son – the statement doesn’t make it clear here.) And, upon hearing all this, we might well think that MacArthur’s ancestry was really full-on with Christian teaching and preaching the gospel of Christ. It does show just how misled we can get when we are only given one side of the story, for some very important facts have been completely left out!

Now the truth: MacArthur’s great grandfather, Rev Thomas Fullerton, was a high-ranking freemason, attaining the 32nd degree (the highest level a freemason can reach in the Scottish Rite, with the 33rd degree often given as well but only by invitation). He was Grand Chaplain, 1907-10; Senior Grand Deacon, 1911; Deputy Grand Master, 1912 and Grand Master, 1913, plus he is designated PGM – Provincial Grand Master. The following is from the Prince Edward Island (PEI) freemasonry lodge website.
Most Worshipful Brother
Thomas Fraser Fullerton, PGM
Grand Lodge of Prince Edward Island, A.F. & A.M.;
Grand Master 1913 – 1914
Thomas Fraser Fullerton was born at Glasgow, Scotland, on March 28th, 1861.
He received his early education at a Public School, matriculating into Glasgow University from which he graduated as Prizeman.
Having fitted himself for a life of theological work he came to America in 1889, and after a short Pastorate in St. John, N. B., he accepted a call to St. James Presbyterian Church, (Kirk) in Charlottetown, P. E. I. This charge he still holds, and has held continually for twenty-one years, with the exception of one year while in active service as Chaplain with the Royal Canadian Regiment in the South African War in 1900.
He received the Degree of Doctor of Divinity from the Presbyterian College at Halifax, N. S. in 1913.
In Masonry he received his first light as an Entered Apprentice in St. Johns Lodge, No. 1, Charlottetown, on March 15th, 1901, as a Fellow Craft, April 16th, and as Master Mason, May 14th, of the same year. He presided as Worshipful Master of St. Johns Lodge in 1911. In the Ancient and Accepted Scottish Rite he received the degrees of the Lodge of Perfection and Rose Croix Chapter in 1903, and the intermediate degrees to 32degree in Charlottetown Consistory in 1911.
In the Grand Lodge he was Grand Chaplain, 1907-10; Senior Grand Deacon, 1911; Deputy Grand Master, 1912 and Grand Master, 1913.
From the Proceedings of the 38th Annual Communication of the Most Worshipful Grand Lodge of Prince Edward Island A.F. & A. M. (1913).
(https://peifreemasonry.com/thomas-fraser-fullerton-pgm/)

It is likely that Thomas Fullerton’s father was also a high-ranking freemason who may have held the position of Grand Secretary of the Provincial Grand Orange Lodge for the Province under the jurisdiction of the Grand Lodge of British America.
Note also that MacArthur’s middle name is Fullerton, as was his father’s middle name, his grandmother’s maiden name (Olivia Fullerton MacArthur), and the surname of his great grandfather and great great grandfather. Many would see this as evidence of a satanic bloodline where a certain name of significance is carried from one generation to the next as evidence of their heritage.

Note also that one of the lodges associated with Prince Edward Island Grand Lodge, Alexandra Lodge No. 5, states that Worshipful Brother D Fullerton gave an address on October 3rd, 1991. The Fullerton bloodline apparently still lives on!
Alexandra Lodge No. 5
The lighted case for the Trowel was constructed and presented by W.Bro. Byron Hutchison. Bro. Yeo’s Past Master’s Jewel is also in the case. A Memorial Tablet on the East Wall of the Lodge Room was unveiled by R.W.Bro. George Wakeford PDGM during Grand Lodge Visitation on June 27, 1928. Bro. Yeo’s portrait was unveiled in the Lodge Room on October 3, 1991. An Address for the occasion was presented by W.Bro. D. Fullerton. An earlier portrait had been presented in 1874.
(https://peifreemasonry.com/alexandra-lodge-no-5/9/)

So what spiritual harvest can you expect of a high-ranking freemason such as Thomas Fullerton? Certainly not a Christian one, that’s for sure. Apparently the spiritual harvest that MacArthur boasts of having come down to him through the generations clearly is not Christian. MacArthur has stated that freemasonry is a satanic false religion. Therefore his great grandfather Thomas Fullerton served a satanic false religion, according to MacArthur’s teachings. You cannot serve both God and satan; therefore Thomas Fullerton did not serve the one true God of the Bible. So why doesn’t MacArthur mention anywhere that his great grandfather (from whom he claims that great spiritual harvest came) was a freemason, a servant of a satanic false religion? If MacArthur is truly opposed to freemasonry, then we would expect him to denounce those in his family who were freemasons, not praise their spiritual harvest!

But what about that mention of Roy Rogers in “A Father’s Legacy”? “He counted Roy Rogers and Dale Evans, who came to Christ under his preaching, as close personal friends.
Roy Rogers was a close personal friend of MacArthur’s father, and the current MacArthur would have seen them often while he was growing up. He appears to praise Roy Rogers and Dale Evans in “A Father’s Legacy”; he certainly doesn’t denounce them. And yet, Roy Rogers (real name Leonard Franklin Slye) was a 33rd degree freemason; this fact is chiselled into his gravestone. He is said to have been led to Christ by John “Jack” MacArthur (John MacArthur’s father) in 1948, attained the 32nd degree in the Scottish Rite of freemasonry in 1950, and then accepted an invitation to the 33rd degree in 1979. Roy Rogers clearly did not renounce his satanic false worship when he became a “Christian”; instead he climbed even further up the satanic freemasonry ladder after he became a “Christian”!

So why hasn’t the current MacArthur denounced Roy Rogers for his satanic false religion? In “A Father’s Legacy” he apparently considered Roy Rogers as a Christian and a close personal friend of his father’s. Why doesn’t MacArthur mention or even hint at the dark nature of Roy Rogers’ satanic false worship? A genuine Christian who knows the Bible well would certainly denounce freemasonry as a satanic false religion, and MacArthur does appear to do just that. Then why does he not denounce it in his family and family friends, and even praises the spiritual harvest of his freemason ancestors.

To denounce freemasonry from the pulpit while also refusing to acknowledge its significant presence in his family and acquaintances draws a serious charge of double standards, and strongly suggests that MacArthur, while trying to be seen as opposing such satanic false worship, is actually a secret worshipper of the same god that his ancestors and family friends worshipped: satan. Is MacArthur, in fact, a secret or closet worshipper of satan? At least his ancestor Thomas Fullerton was open about his ties with the false religion of freemasonry.

See The False Calvinist Gospel for further evidence of the satanic false worship inherent in the calvinist gospel. Calvinists claim that calvinism is the gospel, yet never preach it to anyone until after they have already been initiated into the rites of calvinism. Why do they claim that they are most Biblical, yet not openly advertise the reality of their doctrines to non-calvinists? See The Oxymorons of Calvinist Doctrine.

List of all my posts on this site.

If you wish to read other documents on the heresies of calvinism, please use this link.

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Potential Vs Actual Salvation? What’s the Difference?

Potential Vs Actual Salvation? What’s the Difference?

MacArthur, along with number of calvinists (generally of the neo-calvinist variety), teaches that only limited atonement (that is, Jesus only died for the sins of those whom God chose for salvation) can effectively save people. He calls this an “actual” salvation. He also says that if Jesus died for all the sins of all people, then such an atonement can only lead to what he terms a “potential salvation” which he says cannot be an actual salvation. MacArthur clearly demonstrates his total lack of understanding of the subject matter when he says, “There is no such thing as some kind of potential atonement, some kind of half-way atonement.” (The Doctrine of Actual Salvation Part 1 – MacArthur)

So where is the evidence for MacArthur’s bold yet futile statement? Let’s take a look at some of his “supporting statements”.
And all we have to do is tell sinners that He loves them so much that He paid the price and He wants them to be saved, and all they have to do is respond.
Now if that is true, then on the cross Jesus accomplished a potential salvation, not an actual one.  That is, sinners have all had their sins atoned for potentially, and it’s not actual until they activate it by their faith.  So, what we need to do is to tell sinners that they need to pick up the salvation that’s already been purchased for them.  Since Christ died for everybody, everybody therefore can be saved.  It’s just a matter of them coming to receive that salvation.  And so, our responsibility is to convince people to come and take the salvation that’s been provided for them, to convince them to come and accept the gift.
(The Doctrine of Actual Salvation Part 1 – MacArthur)

So far MacArthur has (even if somewhat cynically) stated Biblical truth. Even in stating that it is a potential salvation that only becomes actual by the sinners’ faith, he has stated Biblical truth. But, MacArthur does not believe that any of this is true. He is merely stating what he says the average Christian would say. He is simply mocking the actual truth of the Bible! Let’s see what else MacArthur says in this document.
That is to say, the death of Jesus Christ, then, is not an actual atonement, it is only a potential atonement.  He really did not purchase salvation for anyone in particular.  He only removed some kind of barrier to make it possible for sinners to choose to be saved.
So the message then – the typical evangelical message – is to sinners, “God loves you so much He sent His Son who paid in full the penalty for your sins. And won’t you respond to that love, and not disappoint God, and accept the gift, and let Him save you since He already paid in full the price for your sins?”  The final decision is up to the sinner.
(The Doctrine of Actual Salvation Part 1 – MacArthur)

MacArthur then goes on to say that because man does not have the free will to make such a decision, then the potential salvation remains potential and can never become actual. Of course, the Bible actually teaches that man does have a free will to choose the accept the gift of salvation. I have never once seen any calvinist satisfactorily use a Biblical response to demonstrate any such lack of free will! Why does God give man so many choices in the Bible concerning good and evil, yet never allows him the ability to take the responsibility for any of those choices? And, if man cannot take the responsibility for any of those choices, then why is the calvinist God so unjust in that he created a class of mankind that could never choose to not sin, yet illogically and unjustly be punished for eternity in hell for doing that which he was created to do? The logic of this all rests upon whether or not man has any free will at all in calling upon the name of the Lord to be saved (Romans 10:13), or does God decree beforehand that such a person will call upon the name of the Lord to be saved. (If the calvinist God has indeed decreed beforehand that this should be so, then he has also decreed that those of mankind who are not chosen for salvation will not call upon the name of the Lord and thus they will not be saved; they will go to hell because the kind, considerate, calvinist God has chosen this for them!)

MacArthur then attempts to redefine the terms “potential” and “actual”.
For whom did Christ die?  Did He die a death that is a potential salvation for everyone, and therefore on the largest part it was useless?  Or did He die a death that is an actual atonement, not a potential one? …..
It was not some kind of virtual atonement.  It was a real actual atonement.
It was limited in its extent to those who would believe, who are the called and the chosen.  But it was unlimited in its effect.  For them, it was a full and complete atonement.  There is no such thing as an atonement by Jesus Christ on the cross that is less than a true and actual atonement.  There is no such thing as some kind of potential atonement, some kind of half-way atonement.
(The Doctrine of Actual Salvation Part 1 – MacArthur)

In other words, MacArthur is saying that a potential atonement can never be full and complete. That is, if Jesus died for all people, then they all have a potential salvation, yet none of them has an actual salvation. What MacArthur is really saying is that potential salvation can never be a full actual salvation. Potential atonement is only a “half-way” atonement! It only goes “half-way”! But, anything that is “potential” means that it hasn’t gone anywhere at all until it is triggered or actuated by some event or decision. Something that is “potential” cannot go anywhere, not even “half-way”, until it becomes “actual”.

So, let’s look at what “potential” actually means! A dictionary defines potential as something that can become actual. The word “potential” comes from a word meaning “power” (that is, it is potent or powerful). In science, “potential” is defined as that which can become “actual” when triggered or set in motion, at which point potential energy becomes kinetic energy. Potential energy changes to kinetic energy when the object moves. To be “potential” means to be just as powerful as “actual”, yet not activated yet. Potential is stored energy that is currently at rest.

For example, a gun with a bullet pointed at someone’s head is a potential death for that person. Just because the bullet is not activated does not lessen the threat at all. It only needs to be triggered to become actual, and when the potential becomes actual here, it is fully actual, not part-actual or “half-way” actual!

Another example: A wild tiger has been trapped in a cage for more than a week. It hasn’t been fed while it’s been in that cage and is consequently very hungry. Let’s say, for instance, that someone tells MacArthur to get into that cage with the tiger. He might say, “No! It’s a man-eater!” You might reply, “No! It’s not a man-eater, for it has never eaten anyone yet, nor has it even killed a man before. It’s only a potential man-eater. It’s only a potential killer!” MacArthur might reply, “It’ll become a killer and a man-eater when I get into that cage.”
So, if that tiger has never killed anyone, and never eaten anyone, then it is not an actual killer, nor is it an actual man-eater! It is only a potential killer; it is only a potential man-eater. But only a fool would argue that because it’s only a potential killer that it would be safe to get into the cage with it.

It is abundantly clear that being potential does not lessen the force nor power if it should become actual. And something cannot be potential if it cannot happen! That which is potential must be fully capable of happening, and that which is potential must have the full potency (full power) of that which is actual.

Thus, a potential salvation must be fully capable of happening and, if and when it does happen, it must act with the full force (potency) of an actual salvation. All “potential” needs to become “actual” is a trigger. So where did MacArthur learn the fallacy that because something is potential, it lacks the full potency of that which is actual? That a potential salvation only atones half-way? That “potential” means “half-way”?
There is no such thing as some kind of potential atonement, some kind of half-way atonement.” says MacArthur.

So according to MacArthur that tiger may be a potential killer and man-eater, and therefore can only become “half-way” actual? Don’t worry, that tiger will only half-kill you! Don’t worry, that tiger will only half-eat you! Because, according to MacArthur’s logic, that which is merely potential can only become “half-way” actual.
That potential bullet in the gun will only be “half-way” actual. Does that mean it only travels at half the speed, or that it stops half-way, failing to reach you because it was only “potential”!

And how can any atonement be “half-way”? Can a person be “half-saved”? Did Jesus die for only half that person’s sins? The Bible clearly teaches that a person is either saved, or not saved; there is no middle ground of “half-way” saved! So a potential atonement must either be fully effective, or not effective at all. There is no scriptural option anywhere for defining a potential atonement as a “half-way atonement”! It either is, or it isn’t!

The truth (a rare commodity for many calvinists) is that a potential event either remains potential (and therefore effectively dormant or non-effective) or it becomes fully (not “half-way”) potent (fully active) when triggered. Potential either remains potential or becomes fully potent, not half-way, nor anywhere else in between. So, when those calvinists in a seemingly phrenetic effort to appear “half-way” scholarly, start using terms for which they have no apparent understanding, check them out. You’d be surprised (really, you shouldn’t be surprised!) just how often their “scholarly” statements are actually incorrect or even straight-out mistruths. Check them out. Test all things. Hold fast to that which is good (1 Thessalonians 5:21). They might appear to have real potential, but, by their own teaching, to appear to be potentially correct might actually turn out to be only “half-way” true!

For further reading on MacArthur’s salvation heresies, follow this link to “MacArthur Teaches Works Salvation”

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If you wish to read other documents on the heresies of calvinism, please use this link.

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