Posts

Alana L.: 1c (faith/salvation), 1d (seeking God)

Image
This series is based on this 14-minute video from Alana L.:   5 Signs Your Loved One is Becoming a Calvinist   (Merry Christmas early!😁) Point #1 still: C.  Alana  said that, according to the Bible, faith comes by hearing and believing the Word.        She's right.  The Bible teaches that faith comes by hearing the Word.  We hear the Word, and then we believe it, and then we are saved. But not in Calvinism.   In Calvinism, faith comes by election only, by being saved first.  As   Calvinist Loraine Boettner said in  The Reformed Doctrine of Predestination :  "A man is not saved because he believes in Christ; he believes in Christ because he is saved."    And  A.W. Pink  in  Doctrine of Election :  "... [faith] cannot be the cause of our election... the reason why any believe is because God gives them faith."   As he says:  "[faith] was a gift of God (Eph. 2:9...
Read more

Alana L.: 1a (inability), 1b (belief is a work)

Image
This series is based on this 14-minute video from Alana L.:   5 Signs Your Loved One is Becoming a Calvinist      Point #1:   A.  Alana pointed out how Calvinists say "I could never choose God.  I would never choose God.  I can't even want God or seek God, so He had to choose me."    When Calvinists say this, there are (at least) two possible things going on: 1.  They're repeating what Calvinists have taught them to say and believe, convinced that it's what "humble, God-honoring" Christians believe and what the Bible really teaches.  It's part of their doctrine of "total depravity," that humans are so terrible - so "spiritually dead" inside - that they can't do  anything  on their own, not even think about God, want God, seek God, or believe in God - not unless and until God regenerates them by giving them the Holy Spirit who makes them born-again and injects saving faith into them, causing them to want God, seek God,...
Read more

Alana L. series: Introduction

Image
This series is a breakdown of my long whole post  which is based on this great new 14-minute video from Alana L.:   5 Signs Your Loved One is Becoming a Calvinist .  (FYI, I added some new things to some of the sections.) I've been wanting someone to make a video like this for awhile now - to help people recognize Calvinism when they hear it, to help them realize it's a big deal that they should take seriously and research, and to help them know why it's wrong and how it spreads. Those who've studied against Calvinism know how very tricksy it is.  But those who  don't know anything about it, or how to recognize it, or how it takes over, or how it sounds like it's teaching one thing when it's  really  teaching something totally different, or how it twists or misinterprets Scripture... well, they  are sitting ducks, fish in a barrel who become easy targets for a Calvinist pastor (especially a stealth Calvinist pastor) who slowly and strategically in...
Read more

When Calvinists say "But predestination!" (shorter, basic version)

Image
[Finally, the much-shorter version - I said shorter, not short😉 - of my "But predestination!" series.  The longer version - full of many more Calvinist comments, my Calvinist ex-pastor's sermons, and my replies to them - can be found by  starting here .  But in this simplified version, I'm simply sharing the basics.  And I'll do a tiny version soon too, cutting out almost all quotes and memes.  But, oh, they add so much that it's hard to cut them out. ] At the heart of Calvinism is predestination and God's sovereignty (among other things, like "total depravity"), which according to Calvinism essentially amounts to: "God preplans and controls everything, even sin and evil and all our decisions, and so He pre-picks who goes to heaven and who goes to hell.  He causes the 'elect' to believe in Him and be saved, but He made sure the 'non-elect' have no chance or ability to believe and be saved because He predetermined they'd ...
Read more