The greatest missionaries are not calvinist
(Or try these recent posts: Why are calvinists afraid to answer simple straightforward questions Not a single calvinist has been clever enough to be able to answer even one of these questions. What a conundrum! Can you answer them? Also have a look at the satanic occultic background of calvinism as it relates to freemasonry in Calvinist connections with freemasonry) Remember, silence is the greatest complement a calvinist can pay to those who oppose the heresies of calvinism!
Why are the greatest missionaries not calvinists? The simple answer is that, like the JWs, calvinists can never know if they are truly one of the chosen ones until the end. So, also like JWs, they show great zeal for evangelism, not because it might save others, but because it might score more points with the calvinist God and better demonstrate their own salvation, that is, making sure of their election. Read on!
So many calvinists get caught boasting about how they are the greatest of evangelists. They do this whenever anyone accuses calvinism of being non-evangelical. But when we look at the plain facts, it is clear that biblical evangelism is a complete waste of time in calvinist theology. Calvinism teaches that the calvinist God has already chosen from the beginning of time those who will go to heaven and those who will go to hell, and that not one person can ever have any personal say in the matter. Nothing anyone can say or do can ever make any difference to that choice made by the calvinist God. Calvinism teaches that no-one is able to do anything to change the choice that the calvinist God has made for them.
Some calvinists teach that the calvinist God uses the gospel to draw people to himself, yet that, too, is impossible according to their doctrine. They teach that those chosen for heaven (the “elect” of God) must be regenerated (born again, made alive) before they can respond to the calvinist God in any way. They must be regenerated before they can hear and respond to the gospel. Regeneration (being born again) has to occur before anyone may respond to anything to do with the calvinist God.
Therefore, according to calvinism, the gospel is irrelevant to those who have been chosen for hell, for they can never be saved anyway. It is likewise irrelevant to those who have been chosen for heaven, for they must be given new life (regenerated or born again) before they are able to respond to the gospel. In fact, the elect of the calvinist God will go to heaven regardless of whether they hear the gospel or not. In the end, they will go to heaven because the calvinist God has decreed this, and the rest will go to hell because the calvinist God has decreed this also. The only thing that determines your eternal destiny is whether the calvinist God has chosen you for heaven or for hell! There is no other factor at all! Wherever the calvinist God ordains for you is your destiny. Get used to it. You have absolutely no say in the matter and never will have any say. You will do as you are told; end of story.
So why do calvinists try to portray the image that they are such great evangelists? One reason is that they are trying to look like genuine Christians who are called to evangelise the lost. However, calvinists are not called to evangelise the lost because that would be a total waste of their precious time. But they must be seen to evangelise the lost if they want to have the appearance of being biblical. Accuse a calvinist of lacking a desire to preach the gospel and he will react. He will vehemently cry that he is very evangelical. He’ll tell you how he hands out tracts, and prays for the lost. (Never mind that he is forced to believe that tracts are useless according to his doctrines, nor that praying of any sort is irrelevant to a calvinist because the calvinist God has already decreed all things that are to come to pass.) He will tell you of all the great calvinist “evangelists” and “missionaries” who have gone before. (Never mind that if they were calvinists, then they also had to believe that their ministry was irrelevant, for unless the calvinist God had already chosen the converts, none would ever be truly converted. And those who had been chosen would still be saved even if the missionaries never went out! Such is the calvinist doctrine.)
But there’s another reason why calvinists make such a big deal of their evangelistic endeavours. You see, calvinists teach that no-one may choose by his own free will to be saved. Only the calvinist God may choose and nothing you can do will ever change that. So how does a calvinist know he is one of the elect of God? That is probably the most difficult question you can ask a calvinist, because the simple answer is that he can never truly know until he dies. He has to persevere to the end in order to demonstrate his elect status. If a calvinist falls away before the end, they have to teach that he was never one of the chosen ones in the first place.
Genuine Christians who have responded to the biblical gospel have called upon the name of the Lord to be saved (Romans 10:13). They know when they did this, and they know that they have been born again. They are saved by Jesus, born again by God’s Spirit and given eternal life; this is their salvation. They know they have Jesus the Son of God in their lives and therefore they are assured that they have eternal life (1 John 5:11-13). They have a point of reference that defines their salvation. At any time they feel unsure of their salvation, they only have to look back to that point of reference (when they called upon the name of the Lord to be saved) to be reassured. They do their good works because they are saved. Their good works are the consequence of their salvation, not the cause.
But not so with the calvinist. He can have no point of reference demonstrating the time when he chose to call upon the name of the Lord, for he is not permitted to believe in the use of his own free will to choose to be saved. He is not permitted to call upon the name of the Lord to be born again, for he must be born again before he is able to call upon the name of the Lord. Even if a calvinist calls upon the name of the Lord to be saved, he is still heading for hell unless the calvinist God has already chosen him as one of his elect. Calvinists teach that you must be on the list to go to heaven or else calling upon the name of the Lord to be saved cannot save you.
So the question remains: How can a calvinist know that he is one of the ones chosen for heaven? The simple answer is, as stated above, that he cannot know for certain until the day he dies. What defines whether or not a person is one of the calvinist elect, then? It’s simple; he has to demonstrate by his good works that he is one of the elect. No works means no election. I know that James 2:17 says that faith without works is dead. And this is very true. However, for the genuine Christian, works are the consequence of his faith. The calvinist also claims that his works are the consequence of his faith, yet, because he has no point of reference such as calling upon the name of the Lord to be saved, then his works are his only point of reference to demonstrate his elect status.
Take away a Christian’s works and he remains a Christian because he recalls his personal choice to call on the name of the Lord to be saved. (If he continues without works then his decision to be saved might not have been genuine, though.) But, take away a calvinist’s works and he can no longer be one of the elect. He claims his works are the result of being chosen by the calvinist God, but if those works disappear, then there is no other way to define him being one of those chosen for heaven. If he is chosen for heaven, he will do those works as naturally as breathing. (The calvinist God will ensure this!) But a calvinist without works is like a calvinist who has stopped breathing. (No works means no God in his life and therefore he can’t be alive.) So he must have works or else he cannot demonstrate in any way his elect status.
What works demonstrate a calvinist’s elect status? Chiefly, he must do those things that he is required to do; that is, he must demonstrate obedience to the laws and commands of the calvinist God. These include being good, avoiding such things as swearing, adultery, greed etc. In past days it was the seven deadly sins that had to be shunned in order to be one of the elect of the calvinist God. They called themselves puritans and they took pledges against those deadly sins, especially the temperance pledge. Evangelism then was mainly designed to produce more puritan people, people who lived good clean “pure” lives. (The English version of the “Snakes and Ladders” game was originally designed to encourage puritan living. The snakes represented the evils and the ladders represented the virtues.)
Originally calvinists were never big on evangelising the lost with the biblical gospel. Their gospel was more to do with living pure lives including going to church; this defined those of elect status. But today the calvinists have made a huge marketing push to build acceptability among the more evangelical churches. If they wanted to be portrayed as genuine Christians, then they had to be seen as great evangelists for the sake of the biblical gospel (even when they were not).
When calvinists are asked why they carry out the Great Commission, they will generally reply something along the lines of: “Because we are commanded to do so.” They can’t truthfully reply that it actually might save the lost, because the calvinist God has already decided who the lost will be from the beginning. According to calvinism, the Great Commission cannot ever make any difference to who gets saved and who gets lost.
So why have so many calvinists apparently been such active preachers and missionaries? The answer is simple. If works are the measure of your elect status, then more works means a more certain elect status, especially if you are not permitted to claim your free will decision to be saved as evidence of your elect status. The greater your works, the greater your esteem among the calvinists, and the greater your own self-esteem. If you could be a great preacher or evangelist then this would help greatly to portray you as one of the elect.
However, if evangelistic zeal were the measure of your salvation, then the JWs would be first in the line waiting to get into heaven, and the mormons would be close behind. Evangelistic zeal therefore is not the measure of your salvation.
You must remember that Calvin taught that his god could give a temporary faith, an inferior operation of the spirit, and that even those who appeared to be very good calvinists could fall away one day. Such people were then never actually one of the elect of the calvinist God. (See Calvin’s Institutes Bk 3 Ch 2 Section 11) And the fact is that there is not one calvinist today who can ever be sure that he is truly one of the elect of the calvinist God. They may only be assured if they reach the end of their lives not having fallen away first. Not one may be assured that he has not been given a temporary faith!
It’s not hard to see now why calvinists are so keen to be seen as great men and women of their calvinist God. It’s only their works which give them some right to be called the children of the calvinist God. The Bible says But as many as received him, to them gave he power to become the sons of God, [even] to them that believe on his name: (John 1:12) but the calvinist cannot accept that we can receive Christ, nor may we be permitted to choose to believe on His name. Therefore they must do the works to assure themselves and others that they are the sons of the calvinist God.
Therefore, calvinists need to do works to ensure their elect status continues to exist, for without such works, they are at risk of being declared lost by the calvinist God who might have given them a temporary faith. Calvinists have to have great preachers and missionaries of whom to boast. The truth is that they have nothing else to demonstrate their elect status. They are forced to boast of their works, their zeal for evangelism, their puritan behaviour, in fact, their life is their only testimony they can have. Without that, they still may not be saved, even though they have done some works and are considered one of the calvinist elect today.
John Piper spells out very clearly just how important it is to maintain your good works or else be deemed never saved in the first place.
I’ll be very personal, to give it it’s sharpest point. If in the coming years I commit apostasy and fall away from Christ, it will not be because I have not tasted of the word of God and the Spirit of God and the miracles of God. I have drunk of his word. The Spirit has touched me. I have seen his miracles and I have been his instrument for a few.
But if, over the next ten or twenty years, John Piper begins to cool off spiritually and lose interest in spiritual things and become more fascinated with making money and writing Christless books — if I buy the lie that a new wife would be exhilarating and that the children can fend for themselves and that the church of Christ is a drag and that the incarnation is a myth and that there is one life to live, so let us eat, drink, and be merry — if that happens, then know that the truth is this: John Piper was mightily deceived in the first fifty years of his life.
His faith was an alien vestige of his father’s joy. His fidelity to his wife was a temporary passion and compliance with social pressure. His fatherhood was the outworking of natural instincts. His preaching was driven by the love of words and crowds. His writing was a love affair with fame. And his praying was the deepest delusion of all — an attempt to get God to supply the resources of his vanity.
(https://www.desiringgod.org/messages/when-is-saving-repentance-impossible)
Clearly Piper is not assured of eternity in heaven unless he endures to the end without falling away!
If the calvinist couldn’t boast of calvinist missionary zeal and endeavour, then the calvinist cannot boast of being one of the calvinist elect. He is only one of the elect as long as he is able to boast of his works. Without such boasting he is lost, and can never be saved. And if he cannot boast of great calvinist missionaries, then his whole doctrine is lost and he can never be saved. “The life we live, not the words we speak, determines our eternal destiny” is the true gospel of the calvinist.
JWs do their evangelism because their salvation depends on it. They don’t know how much is needed, so they strive hard to achieve the works that will ensure their full salvation. Those who work harder will be ahead of them in the queue; others who work less will be behind them. There is great incentive to do as much evangelising as possible. It’s like studying for an exam; you keep on studying because you can never know if you have studied enough until you get your exam results.
And the same applies to the calvinist. His works are the only justification of his faith, the only evidence that defines his faith. He has to work hard, for who knows how much is considered sufficient to be declared one of the elect? He has no certificate saying he is chosen for heaven, no proofs at all, and if he has no works, he is probably lost. And unlike the genuine Christian, he cannot even claim his testimony to have called upon the name of the Lord to be saved. He claims that his works are the consequence of his election, yet effectively his works have to be treated as the cause of his election. As one calvinist has said, “The life we live, not the words we speak, determines our eternal destiny.“
Calvinists work as if their life depended upon the work they do, and indeed it does, according to their doctrines. And the JWs are the same; they must work until they drop for the sake of their salvation. At least I have my testimony of having called upon the name of the Lord to be saved. I know I have eternal life and I know I am going to heaven. I do my works because I know I am saved. The calvinist does his works in case he is not saved!
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(Or try these recent posts: Why are calvinists afraid to answer simple straightforward questions Not a single calvinist has been clever enough to be able to answer even one of these questions yet. Considering that their theology depends on being able to answer them does make them look like fools, doesn’t it! They have a theology that they can’t explain! What a mystery! What a conundrum! Can you answer them? Can you be more intelligent than a calvinist? That doesn’t appear to be hard, judging by the inability of calvinists to respond to my challenges put online 4 months ago.
Also have a look at the satanic occultic background of calvinism as it relates to freemasonry in Calvinist connections with freemasonry)
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