My job as an Apologist/Evangelist is to "perfect the saints" (Eph 4:11-12) and to warn of unbiblical trends and false doctrines!

What you don’t know CAN hurt you. That’s why it’s VERY important to know what doctrines that have a Christian label on them floating out there are biblical and what doctrines aren’t.

Why do this? Because truth matters and the more truth we know the freer we will be!

Where did Calvinism come from?

**John Calvin 1509-64 (Presbyterian churches) invented the doctrine known today as Calvinism

• Calvinists have hijacked the Reformation. That’s why Calvinism is also called "Reformed Theology" even though Luther and Calvin never met. Calvin was 8yrs when Luther started protesting the Roman Catholic Church.

• **This misrepresentation of the Sovereignty of God and the lie that man doesn’t have a free will takes its roots back to Luther (who was a follower of Augustine) who in 1525 wrote a book called "The Bondage of the Will". Then to John Calvin’s "Institutes on the Christian Religion" in which this doctrine was expounded.

• Do your homework and history shows us that Calvinism doesn’t really come from John Calvin it comes from Augustine (one of the fathers of the Roman Catholic Church and called the father of the inquisition.)

• Calvin quotes Augustine in his "Institutes on the Christian Religion" over 400 times.

• Charles Spurgeon said, "Calvin derived it [Calvinism] mainly from the writings of Augstine." (as cited in Dave Hunt’s book on Calvinism "What Love is This?".

• John Calvin admitted that if he wanted to write a confession of his faith he could only do so only with the writings of Augustine.

• D. James Kennedy said in his book "Why I Am a Presbyterian" on pg 193 "I am a Presbyterian because I believe that Presbyterianism is the purest form of Calvinism"

• RC Sproul said, "Augustinianism is presently called Calvinism or Reformed Theology".

• Calvinists agree that Calvin is not the originator of Calvinism, but Augustine was the one who came up with these ideas.

**Catholic Connection: Luther was an Augustinian monk and Calvin immersed himself in the writings of Augustine. The 2 best known fathers of the Protestant Reformation [Luther, Calvin] were heavily influenced by Augustine the devout Roman Catholic.

What is Calvinism and is it Biblical?

Basically, Calvinism is best known by an acronym: T.U.L.I.P.

• Total Depravity (also known as Total Inability),
• Unconditional Election (I call it Selective Salvation)
• Limited Atonement (also known as Particular Atonement)
• Irresistible Grace (sounds like an Oxy Moron, how can grace be irresistible?)
• Perseverance of the Saints (also known as Once Saved Always Saved)

T - Total Depravity:

They use Rom 3:11 There is none that understandeth, there is none that seeketh after God.

At Calvinists colleges they will try to indoctrinate you with this line of reasoning. First they’ll ask, "class what comes first faith or regeneration?" Faith of course they say but then the professor says, "what a minute class, don’t you understand the natural man is dead in trespasses and sins. Now how is a dead person going to believe? God has to sovereignly regenerate you, He has to give you life before you can believe and it’s only after you been regenerated that then He gives you the faith to believe. He can’t give dead people the faith to believe".John 5:25 Verily, verily, I say unto you, The hour is coming, and now is, when the dead (in trespasses in sins) shall hear the voice of the Son of God: and they that hear shall live. (Apparently they lived because they heard His voice, and they could only live after they heard His voice. In contrast: John 5:28-29 Marvel not at this: for the hour is coming, in the which all that are in the graves shall hear his voice, And shall come forth; they that have done good, unto the resurrection of life; and they that have done evil, unto the resurrection of damnation. In order for a Calvinists to impose their views on scripture they have to equate physical death with spiritual death. A physically dead person can’t believe, disbelieve or sin. A person may be spiritually dead but they are physically alive and are able to believe and are also able to do good things. They use John 1:13 to support Calvinism. John 1:13 Which were born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God.

• John 1:11 He came unto his own, and his own received him not.

• John1:12 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:

• Jer 29:12 Then shall ye call upon me, and ye shall go and pray unto me, and I will hearken unto you.Jer 29:13 And ye shall seek me, and find me, when ye shall search for me with all your heart.

• Jer 29:14 And I will be found of you, saith the LORD:

• Isa 1:18 Come now, and let us reason together, saith the LORD: though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they be red like crimson, they shall be as wool. (You don’t have to reason with the elect because they’re already saved and what’s the point of God reasoning with people He knows He’s already predestined to Hell?)

• Joshua said, "Choose you this day who you shall serve. As for me and my house we will serve the Lord" (Joshua 24:15). If God already chose our destiny for us, why was it so important for Joshua to make this admonition?

• Mat 23:37 O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, thou that killest the prophets, and stonest them which are sent unto thee, how often would I have gathered thy children together, even as a hen gathereth her chickens under her wings, and ye would not! (Doesn’t say "ye could not")

• Rev 22:17 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.

U - Unconditional Election:

They say "some are elected into salvation, others are not" – Eph 1:4, Rom 9

"He chooses the elect according to the kind intention of His will."

• Rom 11:32 For God hath concluded them all in unbelief, that he might have mercy upon all.

"God is kind to the unsaved, He gives them sunshine" Calvinists say.

But that’s like having someone over for a nice meal that you plan on stabbing to death when they’re just about to leave. It’s nice to have someone over for a meal but not in that context! Didn’t Christ explain in Mark 8:36 that it is pointless to gain the whole world if you lose your soul?

• 1 Jn 4:8 He that loveth not knoweth not God; for God is love.

• 1 Cor 13:4 Charity suffereth long, and is kind; (predestinating millions of souls to eternal torment is kind?) It’s not about His sovereignty. God is sovereign. He has the RIGHT to send any of us and ALL of us to Hell! The issue is, is God kind?

**Election deals with the selection for service; not salvation. In fact, it couldn’t be talking about salvation. Jesus and the angels were part of the "elect," (1 Pet 2:6, 1 Tim 5:21) but they didn’t need to be saved. God called Israel "His chosen people" (Deu 7:6) but not all Jews are saved. John 15:16 "Ye have not chosen me, but I have chosen you" but John 6:70 "Have not I chosen you twelve, and one of you is a devil?" Being chosen (elected) means for service not salvation.**Predestination simply means something has been predetermined to take place in the future. This concept is found in the Bible, but is also found in the secular world. For example, anyone who becomes a policeman is predestined to have certain attributes (such as the authority to arrest people).

• God has predetermined everyone who becomes a believer will "be conformed to the image of his Son" (Rom 8:29, 30) and will be "holy and blameless in His sight" (Eph 1:4,5). Predestination talks about what will take place after a person becomes a Christian.

• Romans 9:21 says God is the potter and we are the clay. This verse is talking about service, not salvation. There are several places in the Old Testament that use the illustration of the potter and clay. These verses refer to Israel as being the clay. Since only a portion of the Israelites were believers, these verses could not be referring to salvation.

L- Limited Atonement:

Jesus only died for the elect. – Mat 20:28, 26:28, Isah 53:12. They want to argue that because these verses don’t say Jesus did "for all" but "for many" that Jesus must only have died for the elect.

• Rom 5:6 For when we were yet without strength, in due time Christ died for the ungodly. (Christ only died for the elect which would mean that only the elect were "ungodly" which the Calvinists again, knows is far from true.)

• Isa 53:6 All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned every one to his own way; and the LORD hath laid on him the iniquity of us all. (If all means "the elect" then we could conclude that only they elect went astray" which is not true.)

• Mat 25:41 Hell was prepared for the devil and his angels. It was not prepared ahead of time for us.

• Luke 2:10 And the angel said unto them, Fear not: for, behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy, which shall be to all people. (How can it be a joy to people God has already predestined to eternal torment?).

• Luke 2:11 For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Saviour, which is Christ the Lord.
• They have to change words like "world, whosoever, every-man, all" to elect in order to change the Bible to fit their false doctrine.

• 1 John 2:2, " And he is the propitiation for our sins: and not for ours only, but also for the sins of the whole world." According to Selective Salvationists, this verse should read "And He is the propitiation for the sins of the elect, and not only for the elect, but also for the sins of the elect."
  This, of course, does not make any sense. Selective Salvationists are now in a bind. Either they have to hold to an interpretation that doesn’t make sense or they have to admit that this verse is actually saying that Jesus is the propitiation for the sins of the whole world. If this is the case, selective salvation cannot be true.

• Jn 6:37 All that the Father giveth me shall come to me; and him that cometh to me I will in no wise cast out." Calvinists focus on the first part of John 6:37 to support the TULIP doctrine of irresistible grace. Only if taken out of context. V37 is just saying the Father has ordained that every believer will have eternal life.

Someone will doubtless point to verse 44 to support the doctrine of irresistible grace.

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

It is absolutely true that no man can come to Christ except the Father draw him, but Jesus said in John 12:32, "And I, if I be lifted up from the earth, will draw ALL MEN unto me." How does God draw men to Christ? He draws through the Gospel, which He has commanded to be preached to every creature (Mark 16:15). It is by the Gospel that God calls men (2 Thess. 2:14). 2 Thessalonians 2:10-12 tells us that those who are lost are lost not because they are not chosen for salvation, but because THEY RECEIVED NOT THE LOVE OF THE TRUTH, THAT THEY MIGHT BE SAVED.

I - Irresistible Grace:

When God calls His elect into salvation, they cannot resist.

• Salvation is a gift (Eph 2:8-9). But if it’s forced by God through Predestination than it’s no longer a gift. Irresistible grace is an oxymoron. How can grace be irresistible? Calvinism teaches a forced "grace".

• How could God be just if He’s going to send a person to Hell for refusing the gospel when it was God who made it so the person couldn’t accept the gospel even if he wanted to? Simple, God couldn’t be just. Gen 18:25 "…Shall not the Judge of all the earth do right?"
• Being forced to go to heaven is like the Muslims who force people to convert to Islam at the edge of a sword against their will.
• It’s been said, "a person convinced against his will is of the same opinion still".
• This doctrine makes God look like he’s some sort of puppet master. It’s a misrepresentation of God!

P - Perseverance (Persistence) of the Saints:

But these verses prove "Perseverance of the saints" wrong: Jn 10:27-28, 1^st Jn 5:12 (hath the Son/hath life), 1^st Cor 3:15. Persevering until the end to earn your salvation is NOT Bible!

The Fruits of Calvinism:

• Lack of soul winning zeal or outright disobedience to Jesus’ command for ALL able bodied Christians to "preach the gospel to every creature"
• An arrogant spirit/feeling of elitism: "We’re the elect and you’re not" type of thinking.

How is your relationship with God your Creator?

Consider this:

God says "all have sinned and come short of the glory of God" (Romans 3:23). All of us have sinned against our Creator (broken the moral laws of God our Creator) in our past and nothing we can do in the present can wipe out our past. And because God is a Holy Creator He must punish sin, He cannot allow it in His heaven. "The wages [penalty] of sin is death [eternal separation from God in the lake of fire]" (Romans 6:23a)

You say - "but I try to be a good person why won't my good works or my religion take me to God's heaven?"

Because the Word of God says:

• Not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to His mercy He saved us (Titus 3:5)

• Think about it: If our good works/religion took us to heaven then we could have something to boast about when we get there. Also if our good works/religion took us to heaven then Jesus Christ died on the cross for no reason. But God makes no mistakes.

God sent His Son Jesus to save us because we can't save our selves. Our good works/religion WILL NOT take us to God's heaven.

For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life (John 3:16)

It is SIMPLE to be saved:

Salvation is a FREE GIFT (not something to be earned through your religion/works):

• For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God: Not of works, lest any man should boast (Ephesians 2:8-9).

• the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord (Romans 6:23b).

• For whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved (Romans 10:13)

Right there where you are will you turn from your life of sin and receive Jesus as your Saviour and be certain of going to heaven when your earthly life is over?

If yes, just say something like this from your heart:

"Dear God I have sinned against you. I'm sorry for my sin. I believe you sent Jesus Christ your Son to die on the cross and rise again for my sins. I accept your forgiveness and receive Jesus as my personal Saviour. Take me to heaven when I die. And help me to live for you while I'm still here. Thank you God for saving me today in Jesus name Amen"

If you just asked the Lord to forgive and save you, that's great news! Please contact me I'd like to be a blessing to you any way I can.

Think about it.

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