The Calvinist's Big Ugly "But"
(Most of this is taken from this post.)
If you listen to Calvinists closely, you'll notice that when it comes to every easily-understood Bible verse/concept, they say "Yes ... but ..." And these are BIG buts:
"Yes, the Bible says God loves people ... but He meant all kinds of people, not all individual people." [My note: Find me the verse that clearly says this!]
"Yes, the Bible says God loves the world ... but 'world' means 'cosmos.'" [My Calvinist pastor used that pathetic one! They also define "the world" as "the elect people from all over the world," or things like that. But it's never "all individual people." As my Calvinist pastor clearly said, "The Bible is clear that God loves people. He loves peoples. But He does not love all people, and He does not love all people equally."]
"Yes, God loves all men ... but He has two different kinds of love, a save-your-soul one for the elect and a give-you-food-and-sunshine one for the non-elect." [Find me the verse that clearly says this!]
"Yes, the Bible says God calls to all people ... but He has two different kinds of calls, one for the elect that they have to respond to and one for the non-elect that they can never respond to." [Find me the verse that clearly says this!]
"Yes, God tells us to seek Him, to repent ... but He didn't mean we can seek Him or repent on our own. He only makes it possible for the elect to seek Him and to repent. But the non-elect can never seek Him nor repent. But God still commands them to so that they would be guilty for not doing it, for rejecting Him, so that He has reason to send them to hell, just like He predestined. For His glory. We can't understand it; we just have to accept it." [Find me the verse that clearly says this!]
"Yes, the Bible says that anyone who wants to can come to Jesus and believe in Him ... but only the elect can/will want to come to Him and believe in Him because God regenerates only their hearts. The nature God gives us - regenerated or unregenerated - comes with built-in desires that we have to obey. And only those whom He regenerates can/will desire to come to Him and believe in Him. But the non-elect will never want to and never be able to do those things because He doesn't regenerate them. And so they have to keep the unregenerated nature that God gave them which comes only with the desires to sin and reject Him, meaning that they can only choose to sin and reject Him. But because they 'desired' to sin and reject Him (due to the built-in desires of the nature God predestined for them), they can be held accountable for it as their 'choice.'" [It's sick, sick, sick! Twisted and sick! And fyi, when a Calvinist says "anyone can believe and be saved," they don't mean that everyone has the ability/opportunity to believe and be saved, just that "anyone can believe and be saved IF God wants them to and causes them to, which will be only the elect." And they mean that people from any nationality can believe and be saved, but not that any and every individual person can believe and be saved. Big difference!]
"Yes, the Bible says God wants all men to be saved, that He wants no one to perish ... but God has two different wills, you see. A revealed one where He says He wants everyone to be saved and no one to perish, and a secret one which contradicts His revealed one where He really does want most people to go to hell. God can want one thing while causing the opposite, for His glory and mysterious plans." [Find me the verse that clearly says this!]
"Yes, the Bible says God takes no delight in the death of the wicked ... but God does everything for His pleasure and glory, even predestining people to go to hell. There's two levels here. On one level God will still be sad about people being in hell, but on the other level He is pleased to predestine them to hell because it gives Him the chance to show off His justice. Sure, He wants all men to be saved, but He wants to show off His justice (so that He can be worshipped for it) more." [What a sick twist this puts of Scripture and on God's character, for God Himself tells us what He did to show off His justice ... and it's NOT predestining people to hell. “God presented [Jesus] as a sacrifice of atonement through faith in his blood. He did this to demonstrate his justice, because in his forbearance he had left the sins committed beforehand unpunished- he did it [sent Jesus to the cross for our sins] to demonstrate his justice at the present time, so as to be just and the one who justifies those who have faith in Jesus.” (Romans 3:25-26, emphasis added) To show off His justice, He sent Jesus to the cross to pay for sin. This is far, far different than predestining people to hell for sin. It is simply inexcusable that Calvinists have changed this!]
"Yes, the Bible says God never causes sin ... but He does 'ordain' our sins, for His glory. ('Ordains,' in Calvinism, means "preplans, orchestrates, controls,' which is simply 'causes' in disguise.) God doesn't 'cause' or force the non-elect to sin. He simply prevents them from being able to not sin. He prevents them from being able to obey Him by not regenerating them. And this leaves them, by default, as hell-bound sinners who can only always want to sin and choose to sin. Just like He predestined." [Calvinists think that by simply saying "We don't SAY that God causes sin," they can convince people that Calvinism does not teach that God causes sin, which will stop people from being alarmed or from looking into it deeper. But anyone who really examines Calvinist beliefs and their inevitable conclusions will realize that Calvinism does indeed undeniably teach that God is the cause/author of sin, in spite of their denial.]
"Yes, the Bible says Jesus died for all sins and all people ... but it means the sins of all kinds of people, from all races. The elect! Because Jesus wouldn't die for those who are predestined to reject Him. That would be a waste of His blood and make His death ineffectual." [Find me the verse that clearly says this!]
"Yes, God tells us to evangelize ... but it's not to tell people that God loves them and wants a relationship with them and that they can choose Jesus as their Lord and Savior. Because we don't know which people are elect and which are non-elect. We have to evangelize because God told us to, because it's how the elect realize that they are elect, and because God wants to be famous among the nations, because He only really cares about Himself and His glory." [The gospel, in Calvinism, is not for all people but only for those who are already saved from before time began: the elect. Calvinist evangelism is not about helping lost people get saved, but it’s about helping those who were never really lost to realize that they are saved. It’s not about helping all hurting people find God’s love, forgiveness, healing, and salvation, but only about helping the lucky, prechosen few find it. Because Calvi-god’s love, forgiveness, healing, and salvation was never meant for anyone but the elect. Calvinism is not about saving sinners who are on their way to hell, but merely about helping those already predestined to heaven to realize that they are predestined to heaven. What a sad, lacking, deformed half-gospel that Calvinism spreads! It makes me want to cry.]
"Yes, the Gospel leads people to salvation ... but you can only understand and respond to the Gospel if you have been elected and only after God gives you (the elect people only!) the Holy Spirit to regenerate you, to cause you to understand and respond to the Gospel." [Do you see how brilliantly and subtly this does away with the need for the Gospel? In Calvinism, no one can understand the Gospel or respond to it unless they were first elected, chosen for salvation, predestined to heaven. And they can't respond to it until after they were regenerated by the Holy Spirit who causes them to respond to it. So in Calvinism, it's get elected/saved first, then get the Holy Spirit, and only then you are able to want to seek God and to understand and respond to the Gospel. So then ... what does the Gospel really accomplish and how necessary is it really if being saved and getting the Holy Spirit comes first and if we have no ability to respond to it unless and until God causes us to? It has no effect on the non-elect because Calvi-god made it impossible for them to understand it and respond to it. And the elect can only understand it and respond to it because they are already chosen to be saved. In Calvinism, believing in the Gospel isn't what leads to being saved; believing in the Gospel happens to the elect because they are already saved. It's insane! And so wicked! Flipping the Gospel on its head! Using God's Word to destroy God's Word! How very satanic!]
Folks ... this is Calvinism!
If you have to add "Yes ... but ..." to everything God says then you can be sure that your theology is WRONG!
I mean, seriously, does this sound like what God meant to say when He wrote the Bible!?!
Does God need the help of Calvinist theologians to "clarify" when He meant to say?
Did God really intend "Yes ... but" to be added to and to contradict everything He clearly, plainly said?
Is He a God who doesn't mean what He says or say what He means?
(If He is a God who says one thing but means another, how can you ever trust Him then about anything?)
The Bible is very clear and easily-understood. God doesn't hide His Truth under layers of contradictions and double word-meanings that only the "super-intelligent" people can understand (or more accurately, think they can understand). God doesn't play games with us.
It's Satan who does that. It's Satan who whispers "Did God really say...?".
But the Bible is clear, makes sense, and is for all people.
When read plainly and simply, the Bible clearly says that Jesus died for all, that we are all sinners, that salvation is available to all, and that we are responsible for whether we accept Jesus as Lord and Savior or not.
But it's the Calvinists who do all sorts of Scripture-twisting, smoke-and-mirrors, double-layering, song-and-dances, running-in-theological-circles in order to make the Bible fit their theology, to make it say the exact opposite of what the Bible clearly says.
It's satanically brilliant!
If you look and listen closely, you'll see that Calvinists cannot find verses that clearly say what they believe, such as "God does not love all sinners equally" ... "Jesus died only for the elect" ... "God has two Wills that contradict each other, one that wants all to be saved and one that predestines most people for hell" ... "God has two different kinds of love for people, one that saves some people and one that just gives food and sunshine to the rest" ... "God has two different kinds of calls He gives people, one that is irresistible and one that is resistible" ... "God causes people to sin but punishes them for it," etc.
No! They can't find verses that clearly teach their theology. And this is why they have to take verses out of context, apply multiple layers to verses, mash other verses together, change the meanings of words, shame and manipulate people into not questioning them, and make up truths based on what a verse doesn't say (such as if a verse says Jesus died for His sheep, they say it must mean that He didn't die for anyone else but His sheep), etc.
It makes me sick!
And it's the Calvinist's big "but" that changes the Gospel from beautiful, godly Truths to ugly, demonic lies, altering what the Bible clearly and plainly says, destroying the Gospel, damaging God's holy and righteous and loving character, minimizing Jesus's amazing sacrifice, and ruining people's faith and hope of salvation!
And for some Calvinists, it may just be that their big ugly "but" is what keeps them out of heaven, keeps them from true saving faith.
If the Bible tells us to believe in Jesus as Lord and Savior, that it's our choice and responsibility, but Calvinists tell us that we can't choose to believe in Jesus as Lord as Savior but that God has to make the elect do it, then can anyone really be saved under Calvinism?
"Yes, the Bible says you have to believe in Jesus to be saved ... but you cannot choose to believe in Jesus on your own. It has to happen to you. And it will only happen to you if God has chosen you to be saved and causes you to believe in Him."
What a satanically-brilliant deception it is to convince people that they cannot do the one thing God tells us we have to do to be saved: believe!
What a satanically-brilliant deception it is to convince us that we are not ultimately responsible for our choice but that God is, and that all we can essentially do is wait to see if we were chosen or not!
What a satanically-brilliant deception it is to convince a bunch of well-meaning Christians to think they are being humble and super-spiritual to accept and spread this satanic garbage! To convince them it's God-glorifying!
What a load of filthy, stinkin', demonic crap!
And I think there will be a heavy price to pay for those who are spreading it.
Because Calvinism is NOT Gospel Truth. It's Satan disguised as an angel of light.
2 Corinthians 11:14: "For such men are false apostles, deceitful workmen, masquerading as apostles of Christ. And no wonder, for Satan himself masquerades as an angel of light. It is not surprising, then, if his servants masquerade as servants of righteousness. Their end will be what their actions deserve."
