Calvinism is the non-gospel.

Calvinism is the Non-gospel!

(Unless otherwise stated, all quotes are from The doctrine of God’s effectual call – MacArthur.)

Calvinists love claiming that calvinism is the gospel. They also love to make the preposterous claim that they preach the gospel to the ends of the earth, or similar outlandish statements.
MacArthur says: We plead with sinners. We take the gospel to the ends of the earth and we leave the secret things to the Lord but we follow the responsibility to call sinners to faith, knowing that those who come will have had a full atonement provided for them.
(The Doctrine of Actual Atonement Pt 1)

But which gospel is MacArthur talking about here? The general outward invitation of the gospel which he appears to define as ineffectual, or the effectual call that can only save those whom the calvinist God chose to go to heaven (the elect). See the following:
We’re not talking about what we could call the general call of the gospel, the general outward invitation of the gospel.  We’re talking about something that comes only to the predestined and results in justification.  And that is why it is called an efficacious call, or an effectual call.
Thus, according to MacArthur, the call of the gospel to the world in general is “the general outward invitation of the gospel” as contrasted with the effectual call which he claims is efficacious. From such statements one can only assume that MacArthur’s gospel is not effectual because it is a general call. So, what would the calvinist call the effectual call? Clearly not the gospel, as it is obviously ineffectual.

Yet MacArthur also appears to be saying that the gospel is what the sinner responds to.
When the gospel comes, the sinner is so eager to respond. ……..
You were chosen to be sanctified by the Spirit, you were chosen to put faith in the truth, and He called you to that through our gospel in order that you might gain the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ.

So now the gospel is that which God uses to call you? Is this the general, outward, apparently ineffectual, invitation of the gospel, or is it now the effectual gospel call to the elect? Does this now mean that there are two types of calvinist gospel: the general outward call to all people, and the effectual call only to the elect? Do they preach a general gospel to the public in general and an effectual gospel to just the elect? That raises a lot of questions, especially how the calvinist is to know who gets what, so he may avoid preaching the wrong gospel to the wrong people! Maybe the calvinist God chooses whether it is general or specific? But the same point still applies: that somehow it still becomes a general outward call or a specific effectual call. But then the calvinists claim that the same gospel is preached to all and it is God who determines that only the elect should answer the specific effectual call. Obviously the calvinist God has altered that same gospel for the non-elect by changing it from a specific effectual call to a general outward call. It seems that the non-elect do not deserve to have an effectual gospel call!

Clearly it is not the sinner who determines who answers the call, whatever type it may be, because the calvinist God refuses to permit (by his sovereign will) any person to make any decision of any kind that could look like that person responding to the gospel against the calvinist God’s will. The calvinist God has chosen from the beginning of time just who will be saved and go to heaven, and who will not be saved and therefore go to hell. If you are on the list to go to heaven, then the calvinist God has decided that you will hear the gospel and you will respond; you cannot avoid being saved and spending eternity in heaven. If you are not on that list, you will not hear the effectual gospel call and respond; you will not be saved; you will not be going to heaven; you will be going to hell for eternity. The calvinist God has already decided this for all mankind from the beginning, and no-one may be removed nor added to the list of people heading to heaven (or hell!). Wherever you are going, it is your destiny, for all eternity! No-one may choose; only the calvinist God may choose people for heaven (and hell!). This is basic calvinist doctrine: man has no free will to choose his eternal future, either heaven or hell.

Yet MacArthur says: No one was ever saved against their will.  No one was ever brought into the Kingdom kicking and screaming, protesting.  No one was ever saved who was dragged against the grain of having dug their heels in.  That is not what Scripture teaches.  No one has ever been saved against his will.  No one ever will be.  Everybody who is saved is saved because they will to believe the gospel.  In fact, they will with all their heart and soul to believe the gospel.  No one is ever saved without being willing.  It is an act of the will to believe. 

So it is an act of the will to believe? Why, then, does MacArthur also teach (in that same document) that no sinner has the capacity to be willing.
No sinner has the capacity to be willing. …..
This is what we mean by “total depravity,” the utter inability of the sinner to be willing. 

MacArthur also teaches that the calvinist God will make those unwilling sinners willing (assuming they have been “chosen” for heaven!).
No sinner is ever going to be willing until the power of God comes upon that sinner.  There’s nothing in the sinner to make him willing.  There’s nothing in the sinner, even under the best of the preacher’s effort.  It is only when the power of God makes him willing that he becomes willing. …..
But it’s not that the sinner comes kicking, and screaming, and protesting, and trying to resist, because when the summons comes, the sinner is made willing. …..
The gospel alone is what God uses to awaken the sinner and He makes him willing, whereas he has never been willing before.

MacArthur uses some rather colourful and imaginative language to describe how God changes Paul from unwilling to willing on the road to Damascus.
He’s a good one to look at for this kind of call because when the call of God came on the life of the apostle Paul, it was a sovereign, divine, gracious, and irresistible summons.  He was slammed in to the dirt on the road to Damascus with nothing to do but respond.  He is called as an apostle. 
and
Paul understood that he was just grabbed by the neck by God and awakened to the glory of Christ and saved and made an apostle.
Well, was Paul brought into the kingdom by an act of his belief, or was he dragged – sorry – slammed into the dirt, grabbed by the neck and made an apostle?

This MacArthur is apparently a very disorganised thinker, such that he doesn’t seem to be able to put ideas together consistently so that they actually lead to a single coherent conclusion. MacArthur seems to be either incompetent or else deliberately trying to deceive the elect. Or, probably, both! The gospel he claims to take to the ends of the earth is both general and ineffectual, and specific and effectual. Those elect people who hear the gospel are not able to be willing to respond, yet the calvinist God makes them willing, all without opposing man’s will which was not able to be willing without being opposed in this way!?? Paul wasn’t dragged in kicking and screaming, yet he is grabbed by the neck and slammed into the dirt. Sounds like a lot of rather forceful persuasion to me! (Unless it was an act of Paul’s will that he be grabbed by the neck and slammed into the dirt?)

The fact of the matter is that the gospel (of the Bible) is totally irrelevant to the calvinist God. He has already decided who will be saved, and he will apparently use the gospel to “save” them after they have already been called and made (against their wills?) to be willing to respond. Thus, to the calvinist, it is not the gospel which “saves” anyone, but the decision of the calvinist God from the start of time as to who would be going to heaven, and who wouldn’t be fortunate enough to go there. The same gospel, then, is general and ineffectual to the vast majority of the lost non-elect, while at the same time being specific and effectual to just those of the elect (the chosen of the calvinist God). Even then, the calvinist God must make them willing to respond before they are able to respond. Thus such a gospel becomes merely a consequence of having already been called to respond; and only those who are on that list of elect going to heaven will be called in order to be made willing to respond to that gospel.

Such a gospel becomes absolutely irrelevant, not being able to save anyone who wasn’t already on the list to be saved in the first place! Therefore, the gospel is only effectual once the calvinist God has decided that the sinner is to be made willing to respond. And this is the gospel that Paul taught was “the power of God unto salvation” (Romans 1:16)?! This calvinist gospel should be called the “non-power of the calvinist God unto non-salvation”!

The calvinist gospel is in reality a non-gospel, only able to save those who can never be lost (the elect, or chosen of God), and unable to save those who can never be saved (the non-elect, or the non-chosen of the calvinist God). You can only respond to the gospel after the calvinist God has made you willing to respond, as long as you have already been chosen for heaven. Of course, the Bible does teach that God chooses (elects) a group of people for salvation, but also that this choice is based upon man’s free will decision to believe in the gospel of Jesus Christ, a choice which is known by God from the beginning according to His foreknowledge of the future.

1 Peter 1:2aElect according to the foreknowledge of God the Father

This is called the election conditional upon God’s foreknowledge of man’s response to the gospel. However, calvinists refuse to accept that man is able to make such a decision, even after the light of the gospel of Christ has opened his eyes to the truth.

2 Corinthians 4:3-43 But if our gospel be hid, it is hid to them that are lost: 4 In whom the god of this world hath blinded the minds of them which believe not, lest the light of the glorious gospel of Christ, who is the image of God, should shine unto them.

Calvinists call their version of the election an “unconditional election”, where the calvinist God chooses his elect without any regard to any condition relating in any way at all to the sinner, hence “unconditional”. However, if the hearing of the gospel is how the calvinist God calls his elect, then that hearing of the gospel must be in itself a condition of response to God’s call. And calvinists cannot teach that salvation is conditional in any way upon the hearing of the gospel, because this would then be a condition of the election and therefore such election could not be unconditional. Thus the calvinist doctrine of salvation has to be unrelated to the gospel of the Bible.

And MacArthur is claimed by so many to be a great teacher and theologian? His logic is greatly flawed and he openly contradicts himself in “The Doctrine of God’s effectual call”. If he were to debate this topic, he would fail to win any points for clear and logical presentation of information. Instead, my comment on his debate is that he has delivered a confused and irrational presentation, using contradictory and fragmented logic. But, this is the non-gospel of the calvinists!

For further reading, try these.

The false calvinist gospel

MacArthur teaches works salvation

The calvinist God created most of mankind for torment in hell

The big lie of the calvinists

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

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John 6:44 – Does it really prove calvinist teachings?

John 6:44 – Does it really prove calvinist teachings?

Calvinists are quite fond of taking hold of a verse (usually in isolation) and using it, often aggressively, to “prove” that they are right and therefore all others are wrong. They will teach in such a way that makes it difficult at times to oppose them without openly accusing them of heresy. If you have some respect for the person who is pushing his calvinist views largely to the exclusion of other views, it can be uncomfortable to argue without feeling as if you might be offending that person. And many good Christians are reluctant to think that they might have offended another “Christian”.

All too often, calvinists will imply, suggest or even openly state, that to not believe as they do defines the other person as a somewhat lesser Christian, or even, perhaps, lacking spirituality because they are bereft of God’s spiritual guidance. If you disagree, then they will quote their “experts” in books and articles written by calvinist “teachers”, many of whom may be well-known, if not necessarily correct. It can be quite overwhelming, even daunting, for a Christian to be inundated with such a flood of opposing teachings. All too often those Christians will tend to agree in order to avoid an argument, and, if they “agree” as such for long enough, they may even start believing what the calvinists are saying. It’s a mild (or not so mild) form of brainwashing.

(Jehovah’s Witnesses use a similar form of aggressive argument: they are taught to answer most opposition by using suitably impressive references including Bible verses that, in isolation, appear to support their views. Their Watchtower Society constantly trains them for such debate.)

John 6:44 is one of the classic calvinist verses that is used to “prove” that (a) those who come to Christ are the only ones called by the Father, and (b) therefore man has no free will to choose to be saved.

John 6:44No man can come to me, except the Father which hath sent me draw him: and I will raise him up at the last day.

The calvinist will interpret this verse to say that if the Father draws a person, then that person will come to Christ. They teach that if a person doesn’t come to Christ, then the Father did not draw him. Therefore, says the calvinist, this demonstrates that no-one has the free will to choose for himself, for this verse “proves” that God chooses for all people. (That is, unconditional election or choosing by God alone, rather than an election or choosing conditional upon God’s foreknowledge of future decisions to be saved.)

And, in fact, if this calvinist teaching is presented aggressively, it can appear to be correct, unless you test all things. It is not always easy to oppose views when they are presented so forcefully, even when you feel that such views might not be consistent with what you believed concerning the Bible. When opposing such forceful and aggressive teachings, it is essential to know exactly what you believe and why.

For instance, MacArthur’s church (Grace Community Bible Church, California) states “All whom the Father calls to Himself will come in faith and all who come in faith the Father will receive.” (John 6:44 is one of their supporting verses.) That is, everyone who is called by the Father will come in faith and be received. If you are called, you will come; therefore, if you do not come, you were not called. To the unthinking Christian, this interpretation of John 6:44 can appear correct. But such teaching is actually false. That is not what John 6:44 is saying at all! All it is saying is that every person who comes must have been called by the Father, yet it doesn’t say that every person who is called by the Father must come.

In Jesus’ day, to refuse a gift or invitation was to offend the one who offered it. Even if you didn’t want the gift or invitation, you would usually accept unless you desired to offend the one who offered it. In the parable of the wedding feast (Matthew 22:1-14) many are called but these refuse the invitation, some violently. So, the king punishes them and then calls others to the feast. The passage ends with “For many are called, but few [are] chosen.” (Matthew 22:14) Being invited (or called) to a wedding feast was an important event not to be treated lightly. But you could still refuse that invitation!

You couldn’t attend a wedding feast unless you had an invitation, a calling to be there. (Matthew 22:3 says “bidden” which means to be called or invited by name.) No-one might come unless they had been personally invited by the father of the groom. But getting an invitation did not mean you had to go; you were greatly obligated to go, but you could still refuse the invitation.

Now look at John 6:44 again: No man can come to me, except the Father which hath sent me draw him: No man can come to Christ except the Father draw him. But, the calvinists say, the word “draw” means to drag or force. Yes, in many cases it actually means that. But what about John 12:32 where Jesus says “And I, if I be lifted up from the earth, will draw all [men] unto me.” That is the same word “draw” used here. In order for calvinists to explain this, they are forced to teach that “all” does not mean “all” but perhaps “all the elect” or similar. The word “drawcan mean to use debate to persuade someone, that is, to draw someone to your point of view, or to draw their attention to something.

Take another look at John 6:44No man can come to me, except the Father which hath sent me draw him: and I will raise him up at the last day. Where does it say that a person cannot refuse or resist the drawing of the Father. The calvinist then says that the grace of God is irresistible and cannot be refused. (This is one of their basic calvinist doctrines.) But that assumes man has no free will to be able to choose to resist. It assumes that God forces the person to come, and that person cannot resist. But does this verse teach such or is it an assumption based upon calvinist heresy?

Paul taught that man could indeed resist what God has ordained.
Romans 13:2Whosoever therefore resisteth the power, resisteth the ordinance of God: and they that resist shall receive to themselves damnation.
[ordinance = a law set forth by a governmental authority; Merriam Webster says that an ordinance is something ordained by fate or a deity (such as God).]

And Stephen, sitting in the council of the religious leaders, said to them:
Acts 7:51Ye stiffnecked and uncircumcised in heart and ears, ye do always resist the Holy Ghost: as your fathers [did], so [do] ye.
Thus it is scriptural to teach that man has a free will to accept or resist God. Of course, the calvinists then have to teach that God foreordained their acceptance or resistance of Him, because it cannot be by their free will! (And they do teach such!)

So what John 6:44 is really saying is that you cannot come to Christ unless the Father has drawn you. It cannot deny that all have been drawn to Christ (see John 12:32) with many people consequently resisting that drawing.
All who come must have been drawn, but it cannot equate to all that are drawn must come. That’s backward logic, like saying that because a dog is an animal with four legs, then all animals with four legs must be dogs.

John 6:44 does not deny free will to mankind, especially noting that free will to choose between good and evil, between God and the world, is taught consistently throughout the Bible. Therefore, in order for calvinists to demonstrate that John 6:44 “proves” their definition of the election, they must also demonstrate that free will of mankind is consistently denied throughout the Bible. This they cannot do. Only without the existence of free will can calvinists teach that all whom the Father calls must come in faith! Their teachings are based upon false premises and are only as truthful as the lies upon which they are based.

For further reading on the subject of John 6:44, go to John 6:44.

As a postscript, here’s some more questions for calvinists:

1/. Why did Jesus say to His disciples further down, in John 6:72, “Have not I chosen you twelve, and one of you is a devil?” where “chosen” is the verb form of the adjective form used in 1 Peter 1:2Elect according to the foreknowledge of God the Father,
Why did Jesus choose Judas when He knew Judas would serve satan?

2/. Why did Jesus say to all His disciples in John 15:16, “Ye have not chosen me, but I have chosen you, and ordained you, that ye should go and bring forth fruit” when Judas was still one of that group? Judas has been chosen, ordained, to bring forth fruit, yet he doesn’t.

3/. Why does Jesus say in John 6:39 say, “And this is the Father’s will which hath sent me, that of all which he hath given me I should lose nothing, but should raise it up again at the last day.
Yet, after having chosen a devil (Judas) in John 6:72, and ordained that they should bear fruit (including Judas) in John 15:16, why does Jesus say of His disciples in John 17:12, “While I was with them in the world, I kept them in thy name: those that thou gavest me I have kept, and none of them is lost, but the son of perdition; that the scripture might be fulfilled.
What? Jesus kept them all, none of them is lost, except Judas. If John 6:39 is teaching about all the elect of God being given to Jesus, that He should lose none of them, then how is Judas lost after he has been chosen as per John 6:72? Clearly, to be consistent, calvinists cannot interpret John 6:39 as they do.

4/. If “many are called but few are chosen” (Matthew 22:14), then why is the number chosen less than the number called. Why would God call a large number of people to the wedding feast, yet only choose some of them? How can this be explained without the free will of mankind? How does this compare with MacArthur’s church doctrinal statement “All whom the Father calls to Himself will come in faith and all who come in faith the Father will receive.” if in fact not all who are called will be chosen! (Of course, MacArthur says that Matthew 22:14 is “the general call of the gospel, the general outward invitation of the gospel” and that only the elect or chosen of God get the efficacious or effectual call to be saved. (https://www.gty.org/library/sermons-library/90-296/the-doctrine-of-gods-effectual-call)
Clearly, to the calvinist, the gospel is merely the general outward invitation which, according to MacArthur, will be ineffectual to save!

That brings us to question 5/. Why does God make a general call for all to be saved when calvinism teaches that Jesus only died for the sins of those who will receive the effectual call? Isn’t this deviousness at best from the calvinist God, to invite people when he has no intention of letting them in the door? Truly the calvinist God is no better than a politician who makes many promises but only delivers a few (if any)!

6/. Why does God say (in Jeremiah 32:35), “And they built the high places of Baal, which [are] in the valley of the son of Hinnom, to cause their sons and their daughters to pass through [the fire] unto Molech; which I commanded them not, neither came it into my mind, that they should do this abomination, to cause Judah to sin.” if He has ordained such decisions from the beginning (as calvinists would have us believe)? God says here that He did not command them to do such things, nor did it even come into His mind (mind; knowledge; thinking; reflection; memory; inclination; resolution; determination of will). How can Judah do such things unless it is by their own free-will rebellion against God?

If calvinism is true doctrine, then why are there so many anomalies in their “explanations”? And why, after having asked such questions many times, has not one calvinist been able to refute these statements from a Biblical viewpoint? In fact, my arguments have been read by many people, some of whom must surely be calvinist, yet not one has been able to refute satisfactorily from the Bible alone any of my challenges to them! Clearly they don’t believe in sola scriptura (the Bible alone)!

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Spiritual Warfare

We have just finished an in-depth study of the book of Ephesians and it ends with Chapter 6 where the Christian is to put on the full armour of God. Not pieces of it. The Panoply of armour, the whole suite. All of the armour. And then verse 18 says Praying always with all prayer and supplication in the Spirit, and watching thereunto with all perseverance and supplication for the saints.

Paul writes in a way as to argue his point. He is a debater. Read Romans in its entirety and you will see he starts at the foundations and then goes through everything and sums it up at the end. Ephesians also starts by addressing the church (or a number of churches in the area). He writes to the congregations to tell them who we are in Christ (God has blessed us with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ, According as He hath chosen us in Him, in whom we have redemption through His blood, and so on).

He makes it clear we are saved by grace through faith and that this salvation by grace is the gift of God. It is not of ourselves, rather His grace. There is now no wall of partition between us (Paul is writing to Christians). He then goes into the church and how we are ministers, in the same body. He addresses the issue of sin in the church and edifying one another. Walking in love and not fellowshipping with darkness. The head of the church is Christ as is the husband the head of the wife and Christ desires to present the church spotless and without blemish.

In chapter 6, after talking about children obeying their father and mother and also servants obeying their masters, Paul goes into putting on the whole armour of God.

Here we can delve a little deeper. If we are to wear armour, then there must be a battle as why else would one need to wear armour? And the whole armour includes defensive and offensive pieces so therefore we must be defending and attacking. We need the armour so we can stand against the wiles (or trickery, deceit, craft) of the devil. A soldier doesn’t just stand and take blows. They also attack at the right time. Sword and footwear are also mentioned which are for moving or taking the offensive.

We wrestle against powers of darkness and not flesh and blood but why would the Christian (who is more than a conqueror through Christ) need to battle? Cant God do all that for us and we just live a peaceful life until we go to heaven?

If we were to believe Calvinist doctrine, would there be any need at all for Satan to attack Christians given they believe all who are elect will come anyhow (same question I ask about why they feel the need to preach the gospel of Jesus Christ if it makes no difference as they say man has no choice anyhow). But as I said, if there is armour then there must be a battle. And it says clearly who we wrestle with.

We would need to go right back to the garden of Eden to get a better understanding of how Satan and his demons work. Adam was perfect and knew no evil. But God put the tree in the middle of the garden which gave Adam a choice. As Adam was completely content, he had no desire to disobey God and eat of that tree. Adam had dominion over the earth. But when the serpent came to Eve, he was able to convince her that they were missing out on something. so that Eve would not be content. After she ate and knew what they had been missing out on (evil), she gave to Adam and he ate. Man had fallen.

What does Satan get out of this? Why try to make man fall? Satan had already fallen before this. I believe Satan was after some of God’s glory and as a result of trying to steal glory from God, he fell. We don’t know much about this event but I believe it was to do with God’s glory, which is 100% God’s and no one shall take His glory. God doesn’t share His glory. Only He is worthy of it.

Satan would have been jealous of man (made in God’s image) being given dominion over the earth. Satan was much more powerful, smarter, better in every way. Why should puny man have dominion? He couldn’t take dominion over the earth, man would have to give that dominion to him for him to have it and any glory that came with it.

The only way to get what he wanted was to make man fall. His plan was an act of deceit or trickery. To make man believe he was not content. That he could be more (strangely enough so many religions these days sell the same thing – that we can be gods).

God is just – it is one of His attributes. Holy, Loving, Merciful, Just are some attributes we can read about in the Bible. God plays by the rules which He set. Man chose to sin and therefore must now die and pay the penalty for it. Even though God loved us and did not desire that we sinned. Satan played his chess piece and possibly would have thought he had God at checkmate.

We know from the Bible that God sent His only begotten son Jesus Christ to die in our place which was a move Satan was not bargaining on. God is all knowing and knows the future, whereas Satan is not. Some examples of Satan playing or not playing by the rules are as follows:

1 In Job we read about Satan and God talking about Job and Satan is only able to play by the rules. He cannot harm Job outside God’s permission.

2 Genesis 6 we read about Nephilim (fallen angels) who were on the earth and bore children to the daughters of men. This was prior to the flood and we know by the time of Noah that Noah was blameless in  his generation. I believe there were no others left who weren’t contaminated by the nephilim who were possibly trying to destroy the DNA or makeup of mankind so that God could not possibly save them. I also believe that this was likely outside the rules and God therefore wiped all contaminated mankind and locked up certain demons until the end (we read about demons who will be released from the bottomless pit to torment mankind in the end times).

Noah was the ‘restart’ of the human race.

Jesus also paid the cost of our sins, but could God have just saved us anyhow? God is Holy, Just, etc and He abides by His own attributes and rules. Someone therefore had to pay to ‘redeem’ us. To buy us back as we had been sold into slavery through sin. We were slaves to the law which we could never abide by because we were of a sinful nature.

Satan can try and keep us in bondage so that mankind never hear about the death and resurrection of Jesus and the free gift (the gospel of Christ).

Why attack Christians? Well he can also make us ineffective. Everything time we give into sin, it comes with a cost. For example, we see a nice car or a boat which we want (Satan plays on making sure we are not content as a content person has no wants). To get that nice car or boat, we must complete a contract of purchase. We must pay for it. In the spiritual sense, what are we using to pay for that car?

Goes the other way too. Many verses talk about suffering and persecution being a part of being a good Christian and spreading the gospel (1 Peter 2:20-21, Roma:18, 2 Timothy 3:11-12, John 15:18-19, John 16.33, John 16:2, 2 Corinthians 11:23-28, 2 Timothy 3:12, 1 Corinthians 9:12). These verses are a bit of a kick in the teeth to those health wealth and prosperity gospel preachers. What is suffering for?

Could suffering be a payment or cost for answer to our prayers, people to be saved, fruit?

If Satan can get us to buy his wares (which in today’s Christian church seem to be comfort, social life, good house and good food and good job even as a pastor, minimal suffering, good school for your kids, gourmet food, a big church building, etc etc note we are all guilty of many of these things), then we won’t be buying the cost of being a Christian.

Now, the Bible doesn’t say sending your kids to a good school is wrong. Nor is gourmet food. But where’s your heart? Willing to lose it all for Christ? Willing to suffer any cost (ANY cost as Christ, Paul, Disciples, and many martyrs did) in order to gain a reward in heaven? Store your treasures in heaven where moths and rust don’t get it or store it down here?

When I look at many RICH ‘churches’ in the western world today, it is clear where their heart lies. In fact some of these rich church leaders who are deceiving the masses, even say that God wants them to have all these riches now as gold streets in heaven aren’t much use.

More to come.

Does God ordain people to disobey Him?

As I read through the Bible I keep finding things that don’t add up with what Calvinists such as John MacArthur and John Piper, etc, try to tell us. That people have no free will to choose God, and that they are already ordained to either heaven or hell before they are born. And that foreknowledge doesn’t mean that God knows the future before it happens because He can see from outside of time and therefore knows who will choose to follow Him, but instead they say He knows who the Christians will be because he’s already written the script!!  My current reading is from Jeremiah 6 and I will put in relevant parts to show what I mean:

The LORD speaking through Jeremiah to the people of Israel and in particular those in Jerusalem. In the previous chapter also there are relevant verses quoted.

“O LORD, are not Your eyes on the truth? You have stricken them, but they have not grieved; You have consumed them, but they have refused to receive correction. They have made their faces harder than rock; they have refused to return. Therefore I said, ‘Surely these are poor. They are foolish; for they do not know the way of the LORD, the judgment of their God.'” – Jeremiah 5:3-4

“I will go to the great men and speak to them, for they have known the way of the LORD, the judgment of their God. But these have altogether broken the yoke and burst the bonds. ………………..Because their transgressions are many; their backslidings have increased.

How shall I pardon you for this? Your children have forsaken Me and sworn by those that are not gods when I had fed them to the full, then they committed adultery ………….every one neighed after his neighbour’s wife. Shall I not punish them for these things? says the LORD.” – Jeremiah 5:5-9

“And it will be when you say, ‘Why does the LORD our God do all these things to us?’ then you shall answer them, ‘Just as you have forsaken Me and served foreign gods in your land, so you shall serve aliens (strangers) in a land that is not yours’.

“But this people has a defiant and rebellious heart; they have revolted and departed. They do not say in their heart, ‘Let us now fear the LORD our God’. ………………….Your iniquities have turned these things away (the good seasons and harvests etc.), and your sins have withheld good things from you.” – Jeremiah 5:23-25

“Be instructed, O Jerusalem, lest My soul depart from you;” – Jeremiah 6:8

“To whom shall I speak and give warning, that they may hear? ……..the word of the LORD is a reproach to them; they have no delight in it. Therefore I am full of the fury of the LORD…………..Everyone is given to covetousness; …………everyone deals falsely. ……Were they ashamed when they had committed abomination? No! They were not at all ashamed; Nor did they know how to blush. Therefore they shall fall among those who fall;”  – Jeremiah 6:10-15

“Thus says the LORD: ‘stand in the ways and see, and ask for the old paths, where the good way is, and walk in it; then you will find rest for your souls’. But they said, ‘We will not walk in it.’ Also, I set watchmen over you, saying, ‘Listen to the sound of the trumpet!’ But they said, ‘We will not listen.’ ………………..Behold, I will certainly bring calamity on this people, even the fruit of their thoughts, because they have not heeded My words, nor My law, but rejected Me.” – Jeremiah 6:16-19

“The smelter refines in vain, for the wicked are not drawn off. People will call them rejected silver, because the LORD has rejected them”. – Jeremiah 6:29-30

The true gospel – hear the word then believe

When Paul was writing Ephesians, he wrote to them as saints who are in Ephesus, and faithful in Christ Jesus:

“Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ, just as He chose (the word in the Greek is the word for elect – as in “elect by the foreknowledge of God”) us in Him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before Him in love, having predestinated us to adoption as sons by Jesus Christ to Himself, according to the good pleasure of His will, to the praise of the glory of His grace, by which He has made us accepted in the Beloved.

In Him we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of sins, according to the riches of His grace which He made to abound toward us in all wisdom and prudence, having made known to us the mystery of His will, according to His good pleasure which He purposed in Himself, that in the dispensation of the fullness of the times He might gather together in one all things in Christ, both which are in heaven and which are on earth – in Him, in whom also we have obtained an inheritance, being predestined according to the purpose of Him who works all things according to the counsel of His will, that we who first trusted in Christ should be to the praise of His glory.

In Him you also trusted, after you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation; in whom also, having believed, you were sealed with the Holy Spirit of promise, who is the guarantee of our inheritance until the redemption of the purchased possession, to the praise of His glory. Therefore I also, after I heard of your faith in the Lord Jesus and your love for all the saints, do not cease to give thanks for you, making mention of you in my prayers: ………………………………….and what is the exceeding greatness of His power toward us who believe,” – Read all of Ephesians chapter 1

I think this chapter speaks for itself. That it is God’s purpose that Christians should be adopted as sons, that we should be faithful in Christ Jesus, and that we were saved by hearing and trusting in the word of truth, the gospel of our salvation, and believing and trusting in Christ as a result.

Bolded section above puts in order that we hear the word of truth (the gospel of our salvation), believe and trust and then sealed with the Holy Spirit of promise. This is in line with many many passages which go through the same order for one to be saved. Not as per the Calvinist ‘gospel’ which says one is saved (or regenerated but same thing) or born again before they believe. How absurd that one should twist these around to suit their own selfish agenda. Another lie not backed up by the proper interpretation of the Bible.

Did the people of Jeremiah’s day have free will?

The more I read different passages of the Bible, the more I see clearly that man was given free will. Calvinist stand on the doctrine of man having no free will (or only free will to choose their evil in the words of some well known Calvinists).

Let’s go to Jeremiah chapter 7 today and see what the prophet Jeremiah says about what the Lord God says (We cant argue against the words of God Himself can we?). I will include a number of verses from Jeremiah 7 but please read and study yourself to see if it is so. Do not ever take the words of a preacher as truth. Check God’s word and see if what they say is truth.

Jeremiah Chapter 7 (KJV):

1 The word that came to Jeremiah from the LORD saying,

3 Thus saith the Lord of host, the God of Israel, Amend your ways and your doings, and I will cause you to dwell in this place.

4 Trust ye not in lying words, saying, The temple of the LORD, The temple of the LORD, The temple of the LORD are these.

5 For if ye thoroughly amend your ways and your doings; if ye thoroughly execute judgment between a man and his neighbour;

6 If ye oppress not the stranger, the fatherless, and the widow, and shed not innocent blood in this place, neither walk after other gods to your hurt:

7 Then will I cause you to dwell in this place, in the land that I gave to your fathers, for ever and ever.

8 Behold, ye trust in lying words, that cannot profit.

9 Will ye steal, murder, and commit adultery, and swear falsely, and burn incense unto Baal, and walk after other gods whom ye know not;

10 And come and stand before me in this house, which is called by my name, and say, We are delivered to do all these abominations?

18 The children gather wood, and the fathers kindle the fire, and the women knead their dough, to make cakes to the queen of heaven, and to pour out drink offerings unto other gods, that they may provoke me to anger.

22 For I spake not unto your fathers, nor commanded them in the day that I brought them out of the land of Egypt, concerning burnt offerings or sacrifices;

23 But this thing commended I them, saying, Obey my voice, and I will be your God, and ye shall be my people: and walk ye in all the ways that I have commanded you, that it may be well unto you.

24 But they hearkened not, nor inclined their ear, but walked in the counsels and in the imagination of their evil heart, and went backward, and not forward.

26 Yet they hearkened not unto me, nor inclined their ear, but hardened their neck: they did worse than their fathers.

28 But you shalt say unto them, This is a nation that obeyeth not the voice of the LORD their God, nor receiveth correction: truth is perished, and is cut off from their mouth.

31 And they have built the high places of Tophet, which is in the valley of the son of Hinnom, to burn their sons and daughters in the fire; which I commanded them not, neither came it into my heart.

So here we have clearly written that God commanded them NOT to do all these abominations which provoke God to wrath, neither did it come into His heart! It wasn’t on His mind for them to do this. Yet Calvinists would have you believe God ordains evil? Or would a simpler approach be to be consistent with the entire bible in believing the truth that man has free will. This free will given by God and man will be held accountable for their free will choices. God giving man free will in no way makes God less sovereign nor does it add one bit to Salvation as a work of man. Accepting a gift as any dictionary can tell you, does not add to the gift. If your parent gifts you a new car, you accepting it is not adding to the car. It is still a car whether you receive it or not. All you have to do is choose. All we have to do is tell people about the free gift so they can choose.

In the passage above and other passages in Jeremiah (Jeremiah 19 and Jeremiah 32) it is clear that the people of Israel rebelled against God and chose to do things which God did not intend for them. He had no desire for them to do abominations which would provoke Him to anger and cause Him to have to punish them. God has made it clear throughout the entire bible that He desires the salvation of man. He sent His son Jesus Christ to die in our place to redeem us. And as clearly stated throughout the Bible, the payment on the cross was for all (all of course not meaning anything other than all – unlike what many Calvinists will teach).