Are we actually living the message of grace? "When a corrective like this comes from within a movement, it is a sign of health" -John Piper Something wonderful is happening in Western Evangelicalism. A resurgence of Calvinism is changing lives, transforming churches, and spreading the gospel. The books are great, the sermons are life-changing, the music is inspirational, and the conferences are astonishing. Will this continue or will we, who are part of it all, end up destroying it? That depends on how we live the message. As "insiders" of the Calvinist resurgence, there are at least eight ways we can mess everything up. Learn what they are and how to avoid killing off a perfectly good theology.
Calvin left the Papal tyranny to become a tyrant himself. This is a summary of how Calvinism has ruined all the Protestant, Evangelical, Baptist, and cult churches. They all refuse to read the Bible in its own historical context in order to see what God has revealed to us believers. Every church meeting is filled with philosophy, mythology, occult psychology, and humanistic sociology from polling the reprobates. We live according to Gal. 5:22 and 1 John 2:15-17. 1. The Calvinists and All the Rest of the so-called Reformers misuse the Bible by quoting the verses out of their historical context. by following Plato, Scholastic theologians, Gnostic speculations, Constantine's Emperor sun worship better known as the Papal Christian Myth, horny monks and Justin Martyr's 8 heresies in his non-Christian philosophy. Send for the summary. Tell me what the Calvinists changed? Very little! 2. The Reformers kept the magic Sacraments-animism from the Latin Mystery Religion, by having salvation coming through the priestly magicians applying magic water and cannibalizing Jesus. The magic Means of Grace from the clergy saves you if. 3. Calvinism keeps mediators between me and Jesus Christ, such as, the elite clergy, the Episcopal Presbytery, and Calvin's "Institutes of the Christian Myth." 4. Only the duly authorized clergy-priests can serve the body and blood of the Animistic Sacrament to the laity and the peons. The magic water saves one from the mythical Original Sin from the Augustine, the horny monk, Deut. 24:16. 5. The parishioners must keep the "means of grace," the Jewish Decalogue, and other superstitious church laws to follow the error of "progressive sanctification" lies and to make the assurance of salvation UNSURE and fill them with constant guilt of failing to keep the laws. 6. The gullible church members must keep the SABBATH, that is gone, and the Jewish TITHE, that supported the Aaronic priesthood, and other dead rituals and social works, Heb. 9:14. 7. Cal wanted to be a priest under Queen Bess I. So much for the priesthood of the believer. 8. In PCA, Book of Church Order and the Pagan Westminster Confession were my authority if you were conservative. The liberals followed their own Gnostic mysticism. 9. At the Presbytery, they ran the churches like the Episcopalian form of government. 10. They love the KJV, the papal elite Latinized mistranslation from Jerome. All the Latin words changed the meaning of the Koine Greek into their papal myth. 11.) The Bill of Rights forced the Calvinists out of the State Church persecution of the Quakers and Baptists as they did under King Edward, the 6th, and in Massachusetts.
Does God truly love all persons? Most Christians think the obvious answer to this question is, "Yes, of course he does!" Indeed, many Christians would agree that the very heart of the gospel is that God so loved the whole world that he gave his Son to make salvation available for every single person. This book shows that one of the most popular and resurgent theological movements in the contemporary evangelical church--namely, Calvinism--cannot coherently and consistently affirm this vital claim about the love of God. While some Calvinists forthrightly deny that God loves everyone, more commonly Calvinists attempt to affirm the love of God for all persons in terms that are compatible with their doctrines that Christ died only for the elect--those persons God has unconditionally chosen to save. This book shows that the Calvinist attempts to affirm God's love for all persons are fraught with severe philosophical and theological difficulties. Calvinism, then, should be rejected in favor of a theology that can forthrightly and consistently affirm the love of God for all persons. Nothing less is at stake than the very heart of the gospel.
Calvinist theology has been debated and promoted for centuries. But is it a theology that should last? Roger Olson suggests that Calvinism, also commonly known as Reformed theology, holds an unwarranted place in our list of accepted theologies. In Against Calvinism, readers will find scholarly arguments explaining why Calvinist theology is incorrect and how it affects God’s reputation. Olson draws on a variety of sources, including Scripture, reason, tradition, and experience, to support his critique of Calvinism and the more historically rich, biblically faithful alternative theologies he proposes. Addressing what many evangelical Christians are concerned about today—so-called “new Calvinism,” a movement embraced by a generation labeled as “young, restless, Reformed” —Against Calvinism is the only book of its kind to offer objections from a non-Calvinist perspective to the current wave of Calvinism among Christian youth. As a companion to Michael Horton’s For Calvinism, readers will be able to compare contrasting perspectives and form their own opinions on the merits and weaknesses of Calvinism.
Many sincere, Bible-believing Christians are Calvinists only by default. Thinking that the only choice is between Calvinism (with its presumed doctrine of eternal security) and Arminianism (with its teaching that salvation can be lost), and confident of Christ's promise to keep eternally those who believe in Him, they therefore consider themselves to be Calvinists. It takes only a few simple questions to discover that most Christians are largely unaware of what John Calvin and his early followers of the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries actually believed and practiced. Nor do they fully understand what most of today's leading Calvinists believe. Although there are disputed variations of the Calvinist doctrine, among its chief proponents (whom we quote extensively in context) there is general agreement on certain core beliefs. Many evangelicals who think they are Calvinists will be surprised to learn of Calvin's belief in salvation through infant baptism and of his grossly un-Christian behavior, at times, as the "Protestant Pope" of Geneva, Switzerland. Most shocking of all, however, is Calvinism's misrepresentation of God, who "is love." It is our prayer that this volume will enable readers to examine more carefully the vital issues involved and to follow God's holy Word--not man's teachings. "The first edition of this book was greeted by fervent opposition and criticism from Calvinists. In this enlarged and revised edition I have endeavored to respond to the critics." --Dave Hunt
Owen was a renowned theologian in his day and this work is a piece of theological brilliance in the reformed and protestant tradition. The death of Christ had a wide range of implications on the fate of humanity and the cause of redemption that Christ came to give to us all. This work goes over all the arguments that have been set up against the reality of Christ's death and Owen brilliantly rebukes these arguments and settles it all.
Stemming from the Desiring God 2009 National Conference, Julius Kim, Douglas Wilson, Marvin Olasky, Mark Talbot, Sam Storms, and John Piper invite us to sit with Calvin in the theater of God, marveling at his glory.
There is no question that we live in an age of weak theology and casual Christianity. We have substituted intuition for truth, feeling for belief and immediate gratification for enduring hope. Evangelicalism desperately needs to return to the doctrines that once before reformed the world: radical depravity, unconditional election, particular redemption, efficacious grace and persevering grace. James Boice and Philip Ryken not only provide a compelling exposition on these doctrines of grace, but also look briefly at their historical impact. The authors leave no doubt that the church suffers when these foundational truths are neglected and that she must return to a Christianity that is practical-minded, kind-hearted, and most importantly, biblically based.
Paying particular attention to the issue of God's sovereignty, Jerry L. Walls and Joseph R. Dongell critique biblical and theological weaknesses of Calvinist thought.
The extent of Christ’s atoning work on the cross is one of the most divisive issues in evangelical Christianity. In The Extent of the Atonement: A Historical and Critical Review, David L. Allen makes a biblical, historical, theological, and practical case for a universal atonement. Through a comprehensive historical survey, Allen contends that universal atonement has always been the majority view of Christians, and that even among Calvinist theologians there is a considerable range of views. Marshalling evidence from Scripture and history, and critiquing arguments for a limited atonement, Allen affirms that an unlimited atonement is the best understanding of Christ’s saving work. He concludes by showing that an unlimited atonement provides the best foundation for evangelism, missions, and preaching.
