We learned the Definition of Deception: a Right WHAT with a wrong or no HOW/WHY.
What if there was a religious leader who took God's Right WHAT and supplied his own HOW/WHY, instead of using God's HOW/WHY?
Man's Thinking requires a WHY, and if he wants to justify himself, or wants control, or is looking short term, or desires to be comfortable, he will supply the first WHY that seems Right to him in his own eyes.
Satan desired to be like God, to be equal to God. When people hold a contradictory belief, and cannot consider that it is wrong, they try to supply a HOW/WHY that they believe is equal to God's.
DOCTRINE #56: CALVINISM
Calvinism is a man-made gnostic belief that meshes the Law with grace. The five points of Calvinism are: Total Depravity, Unconditional Election, Limited Atonement, Irresistible Grace, and Perseverance of the Saints. Believing all five points leads to the contradiction that God created some people to spend eternity in torment regardless of what the individual wants or does. Believing in Calvinism with less than the five points leads to greater contradictions.
Question: Do you believe you can be a Christian while holding Calvinistic beliefs?
Next Doctrine: Doctrine #57
Table of Contents
If you need it, here is the support from the Word of God...
SCRIPTURE
This Doctrine is different from the other fifty-nine in that we are actually applying the previous Doctrine to show this popular man-made doctrine contradicts God's Word. To that end, we will look at each of the five points of Calvinism in separate sections.
TOTAL DEPRAVITY - People are unable to choose to follow God or choose to accept salvation because there is no good in man that does not come from God.
"33 Either make the tree good, and its fruit good; or make the tree corrupt, and its fruit corrupt: for the tree is known by its fruit.
34 Ye offspring of vipers, how can ye, being evil, speak good things? for out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaketh.
35 The good man out of his good treasure bringeth forth good things: and the evil man out of his evil treasure bringeth forth evil things." (Matthew 12:33-35)
(This was only one of the passages from Scripture we saw in Doctrine #45: Reward. Jesus said a man could be good and bring forth good things from his good treasure. This good can only result in reward. The Bible called this righteousness. It cannot result in salvation.)
"20 For I say unto you, that except your righteousness shall exceed the righteousness of the scribes and Pharisees, ye shall in no wise enter into the kingdom of heaven." (Matthew 5:20)
(We saw this passage in Doctrine #42: Salvation. The Pharisees had righteousness apart from God that did not lead to salvation. The Pharisees had a Right WHAT, they exhibited the effects of the Law. BUT, they did not have the HOW/WHY of the Law, the causes. They were looking to justify themselves, yet they still did righteous things. An example of this was what Jesus taught in (what I have been calling) "The Reward Chapter", Matthew 6: Prayer, fasting, and giving alms. The Pharisees did all these things before men, to get credit from men, but they still had righteousness. If you have God's Causes (His Words and Definitions) the Righteousness will be Good long term, not short term as the Pharisees!)
"21 Not every one that saith unto me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven; but he that doeth the will of my Father who is in heaven.
22 Many will say to me in that day, Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy by thy name, and by thy name cast out demons, and by thy name do many mighty works?
23 And then will I profess unto them, I never knew you: depart from me, ye that work iniquity." (Matthew 7:21-23)
(People did good works without God. Thinking we can't do any good makes everyone saved if they do any good works, and if you didn't do something good in any moment, you could lose your salvation. A Calvinist could judge you for every single action that you did and when you failed to do a good work, he would say that you never were saved! In this contradictory religion there is no need for Biblical repentance/repair. Believing that we can't do any good may sound humble and look like we are giving God the credit for salvation, but it actually results in blaming God for eternal punishment, but Calvinists don't have a problem with that. What would be the point of the gospel for Calvinists?)
UNCONDITIONAL ELECTION - God predestinated, before the creation of the world, some people to be called according to God's purposes and others prevented from living out God's purposes, BOTH determined apart from any circumstances or decisions related to these people.
"1 I exhort therefore, first of all, that supplications, prayers, intercessions, thanksgivings, be made for all men;
2 for kings and all that are in high place; that we may lead a tranquil and quiet life in all godliness and gravity.
3 This is good and acceptable in the sight of God our Saviour;
4 who would have all men to be saved, and come to the knowledge of the truth." (1 Timothy 2:1-4)
(This passage was covered in Doctrine #17: Predestination. God's Will is that all are saved. If you argue against that point you are calling God a liar! We saw in Doctrine #55: Eternal Life that not everyone is saved. Calvinists call God's predestination of people to spend eternity in torment regardless of what they do "Double Predestination". Because these Calvinists do not define predestination with God's Definitions, it leads to contradictions which cause them to create a worldview apart from the Word of God.)
"8 That is, it is not the children of the flesh that are children of God; but the children of the promise are reckoned for a seed.
9 For this is a word of promise, According to this season will I come, and Sarah shall have a son.
10 And not only so; but Rebecca also having conceived by one, even by our father Isaac--
11 for the children being not yet born, neither having done anything good or bad, that the purpose of God according to election might stand, not of works, but of him that calleth,
12 it was said unto her, The elder shall serve the younger.
13 Even as it is written, Jacob I loved, but Esau I hated." (Romans 9:8-13)
(Calvinists rely heavily on this passage. Actually, they rely on their definition of one word in this passage: "election". We have looked at Romans 9 in Doctrine #49: Hate. Verse 13 referenced the Book of Malachi which we looked at in Doctrine #43: Uniqueness. We saw the context of the Book of Malachi and Romans 9 showed people could act apart from God's predestination. Here is the short explanation for both passages: Malachi stated that God loved Jacob and hated Esau. Malachi also explained that Esau's response to being loved less from God was to become more prideful, so God would respond by punishing them more. Malachi said that Jacob's response to God's love was to think they didn't need God. God's response was to punish Jacob, and to look elsewhere for an heir. Malachi explained why it was Righteous of God to go to the Gentiles: because Jacob and Esau didn't respond well to God's blessing and discipline, respectively. Paul used the Book of Malachi passage to make the same point: God has now reached out to the Gentiles because His people chose to reject Him. Furthermore, Paul's point was to encourage people to choose God and not become prideful because if God removed Jacob as heir, He would definitely remove the adopted heirs. In this passage, the word "election" meant "God's choice in response to what is good". Calvinists try to make "election" mean that God makes people good by God's choice. When we elect a president, we choose in response to what we think is good. Our choice does NOT make the president good. God selects the good people and God wanted everyone to be good so that He could select everyone. Calvinists literally focus on their man-made definition of one word in this passage and ignore ALL of Malachi and ALL of Romans to justify their gnostic belief.)
LIMITED ATONEMENT - The benefit of Jesus' death on the cross is limited to the people that God predestinated to live according to His purposes.
"1 My little children, these things write I unto you that ye may not sin. And if any man sin, we have an Advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous:
2 and he is the propitiation for our sins; and not for ours only, but also for the whole world." (1 John 2:1-2)
(Jesus died for the whole world: saved and unsaved. Which God is greater: a god who can only generate LIMITED value or a God who can create INFINITE value?)
"29 On the morrow he seeth Jesus coming unto him, and saith, Behold, the Lamb of God, that taketh away the sin of the world!" (John 1:29)
(Jesus' death was able to take away sin of the world, because it was God's Will all would be saved. If "world" in this verse meant "only those in the world that God predestinated to believe in Him", then many other verses using this same word (world) now take on a meaning that contradicted the rest of the Word of God. If God meant to use a different or, more specifically, meaning to whole, He is intelligent enough to change the word... unless you feel like God is unintelligent.)
"9 But we behold him who hath been made a little lower than the angels, even Jesus, because of the suffering of death crowned with glory and honor, that by the grace of God he should taste of death for every man." (Hebrews 2:9)
(Jesus tasted death for EVERY man. Limited Atonement is the Calvinist's attempt to prevent the possibility that everyone is able to be saved. This man-made doctrine blatantly contradicted God's Word.)
IRRESISTIBLE GRACE - God's saving grace is applied to those He predestinated to be saved and is able to overcome the individual's free will if they try to resist.
"6 But he giveth more grace. Wherefore the scripture saith, God resisteth the proud, but giveth grace to the humble." (James 4:6)
(The biggest flaw in this doctrine is that it contradicts Biblical Grace, like we saw in Doctrine #41: Grace. Calvin saw grace as "unmerited favor". The verse from the Book of James showed God resists the proud which is God's response to the choice of the individual. This is free will. We also saw in Doctrine #18: Omnipotent, God can't work against the will of the individual. Finally, in Doctrine #53: Prayer, we saw that it is witchcraft to work against the will of the individual.)
PERSEVERANCE OF THE SAINTS - Once a person is saved they can never forfeit or lose their salvation. Also known as "Once saved, always saved".
"1 Wherefore leaving the doctrine of the first principles of Christ, let us press on unto perfection; not laying again a foundation of repentance from dead works, and of faith toward God,
2 of the teaching of baptisms, and of laying on of hands, and of resurrection of the dead, and of eternal judgment.
3 And this will we do, if God permit.
4 For as touching those who were once enlightened and tasted of the heavenly gift, and were made partakers of the Holy Spirit,
5 and tasted the good word of God, and the powers of the age to come,
6 and then fell away, it is impossible to renew them again unto repentance; seeing they crucify to themselves the Son of God afresh, and put him to an open shame." (Hebrews 6:1-6)
(We saw this passage in Doctrine #40: Repent. Believers lose their salvation if they don't repent. Calvinist must believe that actions do not determine what you believe. Their core belief celebrates a Right WHAT... a SAY.)
"14 And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of man be lifted up;
15 that whosoever believeth may in him have eternal life.
16 For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth on him should not perish, but have eternal life." (John 3:14-16)
(The word "whosoever" applied to everyone and was in response to whether people chose to believe or not. We saw this passage in Doctrine #36: Free Will along with other passages that mentioned "whosoever believes". Remember, there are no Jewish Calvinists even though Calvinists rely heavily on the Old Testament.)
"1 But the Spirit saith expressly, that in later times some shall fall away from the faith, giving heed to seducing spirits and doctrines of demons,
2 through the hypocrisy of men that speak lies, branded in their own conscience as with a hot iron;
3 forbidding to marry, and commanding to abstain from meats, which God created to be received with thanksgiving by them that believe and know the truth." (1 Timothy 4:1-3)
(The Holy Spirit said that in the latter times believers would fall away. Is believing in this fifth point of Calvinism calling the Holy Spirit a liar?)
"21 For it were better for them not to have known the way of righteousness, than, after knowing it, to turn back from the holy commandment delivered unto them." (2 Peter 2:21)
(Peter said the same thing as the Holy Spirit. Peter did not say this would NEVER happen!)
CONCLUSION: The gnostic doctrine of Calvinism contradicts the Word of God.
There were three types of verses in the Bible. One dimensional verses were exactly what they said they were. For example, "Jesus wept". Two dimensional verses only required correct definitions in order to reach a correct interpretation. For example, "I am the Way, the Truth, and the Life". Three dimensional verses required at least one correct definition as well as a correct interpretation of the context. We saw this with "election" in Romans 9.
Calvinists attempt to make three dimensional verses into one dimensional verses by ignoring the context (especially the verses immediately before and after the verse in question) and then they ignore the Biblical definition of the critical word, which results in man's thinking. As for the one dimensional verses that contradict their interpretation, they just choose to ignore those verses from the Word of God.
There is a new wave of Calvinism spreading through churches across America. Did you know that these beliefs are carried by many modern day churches? If Calvinism is right, why do church leaders not broadcast these beliefs? Instead these beliefs are hidden and it takes a "workman" to find which churches hold contradictory beliefs, based on man-made tradition, and which churches are truly following God's Word!
Satan wants to deceive Christians into thinking a Right WHAT is enough. He is attacking the profitability of the church, by keeping us running around in circles and creating new religions that are apart from the truth in God's Word. Satan knows how profitable the church could be if we had the same causes as God; he knows it because it is a FACT!
What would be the other area that he would want to deceive us in? He wants to destroy what can be the most profitable. How many profitable marriages do you see?
