We received a lot of feedback from one of the newsletters we did last week. We definitely expected that. For some reason, warning the sheep about false doctrines always stirs things up. But wouldn’t a biblical watchman not want any of God’s followers to fall into any of the false teachings out there? Of course, they would.One guy who responded to the newsletter noted that 26 of the 27 books in the New Testament warn the body of Christ concerning false teachers, false prophets, and their false teachings. What does that tell us? That if false teachings, false prophets, and false teachings are that serious to God—that He would repeatedly warn us concerning them—then it should absolutely be serious business for us as well.
https://dev.markcahill.org/you-might-be-a-calvinist-if/
But the lines get blurry when it comes to Calvinism. Lots of people are caught up in it. It can be found in pulpits, seminaries, books, websites, hymns, studies, social media, circles of friends, and even in families. Sometimes it’s right in front of you, and at other times, it’s hidden from plain view. That is why discernment is so key during these times.
This issue isn’t just an academic debate. It doesn’t get any more serious than who God is and the gospel He offers. The gospel of Calvinism and the gospel of the Bible are not one and the same. Remember, the God you believe in offers a gospel that reflects His character.
Ask yourself if salvation is by “election from sovereign grace” or by “repentance and faith from the human heart.” Remember, your answer reflects the God you believe in.
In Calvinism, the term sovereignty means that God has predetermined every single thing that has happened or will ever happen in human history. But the word sovereignty doesn’t show up once in the KJV Bible. By definition, sovereign means the position of a ruler, as in a king or queen, and sovereignty means the act of ruling. But Calvinism turns sovereignty into extreme control, whereby God predetermines who will be saved and, by extension, who will not. It is obvious from the Scriptures that God is omniscient, omnipotent, and omnipresent, yet at the same time, He allows men to make choices and reminds them of their ability and responsibility to make the right choices.
For instance, a sovereignly electing God who offers a gospel of sovereign election is forcing you to make the decision He has predetermined for you to make. But a God who cares about the decisions of the heart offers a gospel that requires a genuine decision from the heart. Simple.
There’s a reason you will never agree with the god and gospel of Mormonism or of Jehovah’s Witnesses. Why? They have a different gospel that is offered by a different god. Your understanding of the real God and the real gospel are very different from theirs.
In the same way, you would never interpret verses in the Bible like they do, because you will always interpret verses in ways that reflect your understanding of the biblical God and gospel. But once someone is drawn into the teaching that God sovereignly elects, they begin to reinterpret verse after verse in ways that accord with their new understanding of the gospel of sovereign election offered by a sovereignly electing God.
John 1:1,14
In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God….And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us, (and we beheld his glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father,) full of grace and truth.
Not only does your understanding of God determine how you interpret the Word, but how you interpret the Word reveals who you believe God to be. Since these reflect each other, basically, how you interpret the Word becomes a statement about who you believe God to be. And your view of God will affect everything you learn about Him from that point forward.
With all of this in mind, which parts of these statements would you say are correct?
Is belief in the gospel a human choice or a sovereign act of God?
Is faith from the human heart a “false faith” or a faith that brings salvation?
Must God grant the “gift of faith,” or does man believe by faith on his own?
Did Jesus die for every single person or only for those who were sovereignly elected?
Does the gospel “wake up” the elect, or is it an open invitation for “whosoever will” to believe and be saved?
More dichotomies could be made, but seeing these opposing beliefs side by side shows how God’s sovereign choice and mankind’s choice cannot be one and the same. But that doesn’t stop Calvinists from melding these opposites together as one. Anything is possible when these contradictions are fused together under the banner of “divine mystery.”
As a former Calvinist told me, “Nearly every contradiction they can’t resolve or that doesn’t make sense is called a mystery.” But always remember that if something is clearly laid out in Scripture, then it is not a mystery. And the least mysterious thing God would ever want is how to get saved. Why? He wants everyone saved! Simple.
Perhaps you’ve heard the scenario where God’s sovereign choice and man’s free-will choice are two parallel tracks that will merge together in eternity, as if to say this is an eternal truth we can’t understand until we get to Heaven.
Or maybe the example where we supposedly walk into Heaven under a banner that says, “Whosoever will, may come” yet on the flip side, it says, “Chosen from before the foundations of the world”? These statements can’t both be true at the same time, and synthesizing them into one concept doesn’t erase the contradiction either.
At stake here is whether or not God wants all of mankind to be saved. Isn’t God more than able to make His message to humanity clear? Are we really too frail and limited to comprehend the words He intended us to know? Or must He rely on “deeper,” “mind-blowing,” and “hidden” mysteries for us to figure out what He means?
But when someone believes in lies, their imagination can get pretty creative when defending them. No one wants to be wrong, but creating false arguments isn’t right either. Just think about the convoluted lies that prop up evolution, climate change, political schemes, and more.
The scenarios and pat answers of Calvinism are endless. They are meant to wipe away all the confusion it creates. However, the confusion vanishes when Calvinism and the so-called “deeper mysteries” are taken out of the mix.
Two thousand years ago, Jesus asked His disciples, “Who do you say that I am?” Who you side with and what you defend go a long way toward answering that question.
Your choices about who you believe God to be and the gospel you uphold will reverberate throughout all of eternity for yourself and those you influence.
And the Spirit and the bride say, Come. And let him that heareth say, Come. And let him that is athirst come. And whosoever will, let him take the water of life freely.
There is a day coming when no one will accuse God of predetermining their choice to believe or to not believe that Jesus died for their sins. Good thing to think about as you continue your journey through life.
Remember to keep things simple. The Calvinist believes in a God who preselects who goes to Heaven and preselects who goes to Hell. Many of them believe in a Jesus who only died for the elect and not for the sins of the whole world. They believe in a gospel of sovereign election for a chosen few and not in the gospel that is available to all mankind.
The Bible teaches that God desires for all men to be saved (1 Timothy 2:4). That Jesus died on the cross for the sins of the whole world (1 John 2:2). And the gospel is for anyone and everyone who wants to repent of their sins and believe upon the Lord Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of their sins. There is a clear and complete contrast between these two positions. Both of them can’t be true at the same time. You are going to have to make a choice. Simple.
Until the nets are full,
P.S.
