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231118 18th November 2023From James  Subject: Calvinism is a Christian Cult
I agree with your article that Calvinism is a Christian Cult. Question: Do you think Calvin should have been executed, not because he was a heretic, though he was, but for all of his atrocities?

Reply:
I think that Calvin certainly broke many moral and ethical laws with his heavy-handed treatment of any who disagreed with him. Like all calvinists, he considered himself to be absolutely correct and therefore no-one had the right to have any other opinion other than his. Calvin was also a murderer who ordered the deaths of anabaptists for the alleged crime of refusing to accept the catholic baptism. Calvin never left the catholic church and maintained all his life that the catholic baptism was the only acceptable baptism for salvation. This makes Calvin’s teaching heresy against biblical truth. Heresy should demand that he be accused by the church for such, and disciplined by the church.

Paul in 1 Corinthians 5:5 sets the pattern for dealing with sin: to give them over to satan for destruction. That is, remove them from church membership and hand them over to the one they really serve. Publicly expose their sin (in this case, fornication) and remove them from fellowship.

And Paul in 1 Timothy 1:19-20 said of those committing heresy: 19Holding faith, and a good conscience; which some having put away concerning faith have made shipwreck: 20Of whom is Hymenaeus and Alexander; whom I have delivered unto Satan, that they may learn not to blaspheme.

In each case heresy is to be dealt with by removing them from church fellowship and handing them over to satan. Even the reformer Luther wrote: “I can in no way admit,” he wrote to his friend Link in 1528, “that false teachers should be put to death: it is enough that they should be banished .”

However, on the other hand, murder is an offence that legitimately comes under state law. And, if the laws of his state required execution for murder (which I am assured they did at that time), then Calvin should have been executed many times over. Calvin (sometimes referred to as the butcher of Geneva) did commit murder and should have been executed by the laws of his state which required this punishment for murder.

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230919 19th Septemberfrom Elisia Subject: Do you have anything in listening format?
Hi there, I have a hard time reading on a computer for hours.
I genuinely want to read everything that you have to share on these topics. Am I missing where I can listen to your sermons? I can’t find your name?
I am an ex-new ager on the accelerated path of discernment in the various denominations/churches and the spiritual abuse that takes place.
I am currently trying to wrap my head around Biblical counseling and when it is done improperly/what people are supposed to do with their problems.
I am in the USA, otherwise I would definitely pop in to your church.
Thank you!

Reply:
1/. I guess I am the opposite in that I prefer to read written material rather than listen to audio or watch audio-visual material.
Sorry but I do not have anything in audio-visual format. I do have a number of sermons online but in written form only.
There’s software that actually “reads” written script for you; maybe that might be helpful?

2/. I do encourage you to continue to seek spiritual discernment as long as it is focused upon obtaining Biblical truth.

3/. As for Biblical counselling, much of such counselling in most churches today is strongly influenced by false new-calvinist teachings and therefore not very Biblical at all. Therefore it’s best to carefully check out the spiritual background of an alleged Biblical counsellor before submitting to their advice. So many Biblical counsellors today are associated with CCEF which is connected to the new-calvinist Westminster Theological Seminary of Philadelphia. CCEF favours such false teachers as Jonathan Edwards who taught that God’s glory would be incomplete without sin, and that evil was necessary to complete our knowledge of God.

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230614 14th June 2023from Mark  Subject: Uncertain! Warning: Irrational and confused statements follow here.
My HOPE for you ALL is to Become Saved….
there’s thousands of Un-Saved pastors..&…millions of Un-Saved believers….
JESUS Never started a new denomination called….churchanity…..
Salvation — is a Conditional & Relational word….
Salvation…and/or…” Saved “…is NOT a 1 Time Occurrence…it’s a Present Tense Real Time State of Being…NOT…a Once Upon a Time Confession….
there’s NO SUCH THING as a sinners prayer…or….sunday church in the Bible….
Be Advised….
the Pre-Trib Rapture ISN’T for the Generic LukeWarm man made pagan sunday churches….
the Rapture i   (Editor: He appears to have stopped in the middle of a sentence; possibly he went to sleep here?.)

Reply:
I published this comment even though it is clearly non-biblical. I just wanted my readers to note the garbled nonsense that comes from this confused person. In fact, it is clear that he never even got to complete what he was trying to write; possibly he lost his train of thought before he got to the station!
I won’t even try to defend anything because there is no clear statement in the first place. I have no idea what he is trying to say, other than that it is irrational and unbiblical (and terribly confused). If you ever have to put up with such nonsense, then don’t try to argue; just present the biblical gospel as clearly and as concisely as possible in the hope that he might call upon the name of the Lord and be saved from a Christ-less eternity in hell (Romans 10:13).

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230430 30th April 2023from Andrew Subject: Calvinist views on punishment of the damned
Just feedback. Fantastic article. I’m a construction worker, but a thinking man. This is the first article that I’ve read that independently articulated views I’ve developed & deduced over the years regarding Calvinist premises. Only significant point I thought seemed could’ve been developed in the article would pertain to how the Calvinist views the punishment of those damned in conjunction with God’s election & sufficiency of Christ’s payment. If God is the only agent, Christ death sufficiently paid for all sin, (all wrath was poured out on Christ), what sin are the damned paying for?

Reply:
Thank you for your encouraging feedback. I am not sure which article you are referring to but I have dealt with how calvinists explain how the lost pay for their sin. In actually fact, you are correct: Christ did pay for all the sin of the whole world (1 John 2:1-2 does explain it so well), so no-one will go to hell to pay for their sin. I cover this in the article https://www.hopperscrossingchristianchurch.com/2023/01/13/four-point-calvinists-believe-in-universal-salvation/

1/. No-one ever goes to hell to pay for their sins. You go because you refused the free pardon for sin offered by God by not calling upon the name of the Lord to be saved (Romans 10:13).

2/. It is impossible to pay for even one sin in hell, ever. Just think it through carefully! If you could pay for even one single sin in hell, then, given enough time, you could pay for every one of your sins. There’s no time limit; you will have eternity to pay for those sins. But there is no escape from hell, no matter how many works you achieve to pay for any number of sins. Your sins are not infinite, but your time in hell is indeed infinite. Redemption is what you seek in this life, not the next!

3/. Romans 4:4-5 makes it very clear that you go to hell because you decided to trust in your works to get you off the charge of sin. It is those who trust in Christ for their righteousness who will be admitted to heaven, none other at all.
Mankind his two options in this life for his eternal future:
(a) to trust in your own works (and be found in debt before God as Judge – Vs 4). You will go to hell.
or (b) to believe on him that justifies the ungodly (and your faith will be accounted as your righteousness – Vs 5) You will be admitted to heaven.

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230401 1st April 2023from Brent Subject: Non-calvinist biblical commentaries?
I am looking for a good, practical book on hermeneutics/how to study and interpret the Bible for my small group. I am trying to find a book from a non-Calvinistic perspective. Can you recommend any resources?

Reply:
1/. There are not any really effective non-calvinistic commentaries that I know of. There are some that are reasonable, such as enduringword.com which is generally non-calvinist although it does favour some calvinist views and teachers (such as Spurgeon). However, it is not very detailed, covering only the basics in most cases.

2/. I like to use Hebrew and Greek lexicons to check original languages, and the various places that certain words are used, and how they are used. I have found the onlinebible.org/ software to be excellent if researching meanings of terms used.

3/. I also like to look at some of the older commentaries. Even though most older commentaries have some calvinist tendencies, they also tended to be more scholarly in their interpretations, if at times astray with their meanings. biblehub.com/commentaries/ is useful for background information on the Bible with a few of their commentaries worth looking at (with a caution that they can have calvinist tendencies). Useful commentaries to look at include Cambridge, Ellicott, Barnes and Pulpit.
This site also can give you Greek and Hebrew, plus parallel versions for verses.

4/. However, in the end, it is best to read and study the passages for yourself first. Check out background information as much as you can for yourself. Try to get an overview of what you think about a passage before you look at what others might say. This method can be time-consuming, but it is always best to know in your own mind what you believe than to have a plethora of ideas from other people.

5/. Steer clear of any openly-calvinist sites that have little interest in the truth but instead are trying to indoctrinate with their verbal gymnastics. 2 Peter 2:3 says of false teachers “And through covetousness shall they (false teachers including calvinists) with feigned words make merchandise of you ….” where “feigned words” means the use of cleverly-designed wording designed to make you think their teachings are true. That is, they use verbal gymnastics to mislead. For example, they quote “no-one seeks after God” (Romans 3:11) but change it into no-one being able to seek after God. Yet Jeremiah 29:13 says “And ye shall seek me, and find [me], when ye shall search for me with all your heart.” Why would God say this if we were unable to seek after Him? Calvinists have a huge problem with inconsistency of their teachings!

Reply from Brent:
Thanks for your awesome reply. FYI, I have recently read the book “Grasping God’s Word”, which does a good job of showing a process to interpret the Bible without much Calvinistic content.

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230118 18th January 2023 – (from ?) Subject: “Why do calvinists believe lies? Good article! When one understands Calvinism’s the underlying doctrine – one can recognize a certain percentage of Calvinist statements do take the form of lies.  Take for example  MacArthur’s statement:  “We have been chosen in Christ….”    MacArthur knows if he says “I have been chosen in Christ” he is telling a bold-faced lie against his own doctrine – because the doctrine stipulates no human is granted CERTAINTY concerning his election.
John Calvin-quote
We are *NOT* bidden to distinguish between reprobate and elect – that is for god alone, not for us, to do . . . (Institutes of the Christian Religion, 4. 1. 3.)
John Calvin-quote
We must thus consider both god’s *SECRET* election and his *INNER* call. For *HE ALONE* knows who are his. (I have added its source – Institutes 4, 1, 2 – Editor)
When MacArthur says “WE” are chosen – he is using the word “WE” as a replacement word for “The Elect”. “The Elect” are chosen for salvation.
But per the doctrine – MacArthur is not granted knowledge of who the elect are.
MacArthur doesn’t want to tell the TRUTH to his audience because he is concerned he might lose a percentage of them – as soon as they discover – the doctrine also stipulates they have the higher probability of having been created/designed as CHAFF believers – and will have the higher probability of waking up in a lake of fire – for his good pleasure.
MacArthur doesn’t want to lose people – because he would then be faced with having to acknowledge it was infallibly decreed that he lose them. (And it wouldn’t put as much money in the offering plate, either! – Editor)
This is one simple little example of  how Calvinists become conditioned to communicate using deceptive language tricks designed to hide dark aspects of the doctrine they don’t want to face – and don’t want others to see.

Reply:
Thank you for your interesting comment.
1/. Yes, calvinism is dependent upon its lies. It is certain that Calvin did teach clearly that “we are not enjoined here to distinguish between the elect and the reprobate (this belongs not to us, but to God only)” (Institutes Bk 4, Ch.1, Section 3).
And Calvin did also teach that “he alone “knoweth them that are his” (2 Tim. 2:19)” (Institutes Bk 4, Ch.1, Section 2) That is, not only are we not required to determine between the elect and the reprobate, it is also impossible for us to know this anyway because, according to Calvin, God alone is able to know who are his elect.
However, Calvin himself has told a big lie here. 2 Timothy 2:19 says “The Lord knoweth them that are his.” If you check all Bible versions, not one of them adds the word “alone” or equivalent. The Bible does not teach that only God (and no-one else) may be embued with this knowledge. Calvin was a liar who twisted Scripture to suit his selfish ideas.
2/. True, no-one can be granted certainty concerning his election. Not one single calvinist can know for certain if he himself is one of the elect until he demonstrates this by persevering to the end. Even Piper admits that if he falls away before the end, then he was never saved in the first place. You must persevere to the end before you may be declared elect! But how many calvinists actually teach this up front?? They don’t because they are too scared to promise such uncertainty!
3/. The false teachers of 2 Peter 2:1 include calvinists who use carefully sculpted statements (“feigned words”) to win you over to their heresy (2 Peter 2:3). That is, they are experts at verbal gymnastics!
4/. Calvinists are fond of quoting Spurgeon who said “Calvinism is the gospel, and nothing else.” But, when have you ever heard a calvinist preach the calvinist gospel to the lost that God has chosen his elect and that they will only go to heaven if they are one of the chosen ones? They put on a charade of preaching the biblical gospel, not calvinism itself! Yet MacArthur teaches that there is “the general outward invitation of the gospel” (the ineffectual biblical gospel) which goes to all mankind, and there is the “effective call” (the effectual calvinist gospel) of God that goes “to the predestined and results in justification”.
5/. Calvin also taught in Bk 4, Ch.1 of his Institutes that salvation could only be found in the Catholic Church. Note that he never left the catholic church and declared his catholic baptism as essential for his eternal salvation. No matter what denomination you belong to, Calvin would condemn you (as he condemned the Anabaptists) if you renounced the catholic baptism. That is, you cannot be saved if you were not baptised in a catholic church!

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