Watching Stealth Calvinism in Action
Here's a recent video from Kevin Thompson at Beyond the Fundamentals about how Calvinism sneaks into churches:
(And check out his other videos on "Stealth Calvinism")
And along these lines. here's a book review I once posted about another woman's experience with Calvinism taking over her church: "Review of 'Once an Insider, Now Without a Church Home' - A Look at How Churches Go Wrong".
1. Our old pastor retired, and the search for a new one began. Under the old pastor, there was no talk of Calvinism or predestination or "we're totally depraved, rebellious sinners who resist God" or anything like that. If he was a Calvinist, I never knew it. He preached gracious, encouraging sermons, for the heart and soul.
[For the record, I was introduced to Calvinism in high school back in the 90's. And when we talked about sovereignty and predestination in our youth group, I simply and smugly concluded "Well, God is God, and so of course He knows best and can do what's best for His glory, and we don't need to totally understand it. Who are we to question Him? We're just humans." Like "Duh, this is just the way it is!" (I'm guessing this was instilled into me through the Calvinist teachings we were studying, that I was falling for the manipulation.)
I remember feeling that the only way to truly affirm God's sovereignty was to agree that He could predestine people's eternities, and that to deny [Calvinist] predestination was denying His sovereignty. And I also felt deep inside like you were a better, humbler Christian if you affirmed that God controlled our destinies... because, duh, He is God. And no matter what He does, we should be humble enough to submit to it, right?
I was a high schooler being taught Calvinism, feeling like I was learning and accepting deeper, harder biblical teachings and like I was a better Christian for it.
But, thankfully, that's as far as I got into Calvinism (though I didn't really know or remember that it was called Calvinism). It never really came up again in the youth group, and I never thought about it again or got into it any deeper. I simply trusted that since God is good, He would do what's best, and I didn't have to know the details. And I went on with living a life of faith that definitely seemed "free-will" to me, never going any further into Calvinism, and forgetting about this whole issue... until the new pastor came along.]
2. At first, I didn't think there was anything wrong with the new pastor (I'll call him John), other than his personality was very different from the gentle pastor who just retired whom I really liked. The new one was very strong, vocal, forceful, and confident. Maybe a bit smug. And he preached much more "academic" messages. I remember thinking he should be a professor or write a book or something like that. His sermons were more "for the head" than "for the heart." And while I love education and information [I am an avid reader, researcher, studier], I'm more of a "for the heart" person.
[A friend of ours ended up leaving the church around the same time we did because, as she said, "the heart went out of the place when Pastor John came in."]
3. In his first months there, I don't remember him ever admitting he was a Calvinist or that his theology was Calvinism. (Yet he clearly is one, as I can see now - a dogmatic, aggressive Calvinist who seems to take pride in and is enthralled with his Calvinism. A total mini-MacArthur, which I am sure would make him proud and honored to hear. It's not just a side-issue for him, but it's clearly what he's most passionate about, most invested in.) My husband thinks he did call himself "reformed" once very early on, but I don't remember it. But at the time, I wouldn't have known enough to understand what that meant anyway or to recognize it as a red flag.
But looking back now, I think he was very careful to not identify his particular brand of theology (other than that possible one time). Instead, he simply always claimed that he's "just preaching right from Scripture."
Six years later when we left that church, someone told me that the elder board knew he was a very strong, dogmatic Calvinist and that they liked it and wanted it. And yet, as far as I can tell, they never let the congregation clearly know this or discuss it or have a say in it. (Or maybe I was just that ignorant.)
4. The first red flag (sometime in the first few months) - the first thing that alerted me to the fact that something was off about him - was when he spoke from the pulpit about "people who believe in free-will"... and when he said this, he gave a little scoffing, snickering sound, a mocking sound that seemed to say "Can you believe those morons!?!"
And it made me think "Whoa, what was that about? Why would he have a problem with free-will?" And I started listening more closely.
[Another of the earliest red flags, though unrelated to Calvinism, was when he said in a sermon that he has no patience. I can't remember if he said "with people" or not, but that's the message I got, that he has no patience with people. I think he thought he was being "humbly honest" with us, trying to come down to our level like "Look how human I am too," trying to connect with people. But all it did was instantly make me put up mental walls with him because - as an introverted person who struggles with anxiety and who is very afraid of being a burden to others - the last thing I would want to do is seek any kind of help from someone who has no patience, who might make me feel like I am burdening them with my problems or like I should just "get over it." Smug, preachy, impatient people make the worst counselors and comforters.]
5. The next things I noticed (probably because I'm a licensed counselor) were multiple signs of Pastor John manipulating people to agree with him and shaming people who might disagree with him later. This is what got me to really sit up and take notice.
And he started it really early on, before even revealing his Calvinism. He was predisposing people, through subtle manipulation, to view those who agree with him as good, humble, God-honoring Christians and those who would disagree with him as bad, unhumble, God-fighting, God-dishonoring Christians. (Who's going to want to oppose him later when he's made sure people will think less of those who do?)
The things he said were along the lines of "This is God's view of things. I'm just preaching right from Scripture. If you disagree with this, you disagree with the Bible... The Bible clearly teaches these [Calvinist] things... Humble Christians have no trouble accepting these things... We don't have to understand it or like it, but we do have to accept it... How can God ordain sin but hold people responsible for it? I don't know, but I humbly accept it because the Bible teaches both of these truths without tension... It's like two train tracks running far into the distance that appear to not intersect, but they eventually will in eternity, but since we won't be able to see it in our lifetimes, we just have to trust... The Bible doesn't have trouble with these things; it's only people who do... Americans have trouble submitting to authority because we like control too much. But people in other countries have no problem accepting God's right to rule... Little children have no problem accepting the things I teach them about God's sovereignty; it's only proud, independent, self-sufficient adults who have trouble with it, who resist authority. But the Bible says we need to be humble like children, and that means humbly accepting the truth of predestination, instead of fighting it... There are only three possible responses you can have to the truth of predestination: ignore it, get angry about it, or accept it."
Also, something else I noticed was that John regularly said "This is what the Bible teaches... teaches... teaches." Maybe other Calvinists don't do this, but John did, and it happened so much that I began to take notice. Why would he make such an effort to use "teaches" instead of the easier, more commonly-used "says"?
My guess is that Calvinists deliberately use the word "teaches" because they know that the Bible doesn't clearly "say" the things they say it does. But if they can cobble together enough verses taken out of context and redefine words and add multiple layers and strap Calvinist glasses over your eyes, then they can make it sound like it's what the Bible "teaches," even though it doesn't actually say those things (and even though it actually contradicts what the Bible does plainly, clearly, outright say when read in a commonsense way, see "Is 'Accept Jesus in your heart' unbiblical and dangerous?" for a little more on this.).
Anyway, the more he said things like this, the more suspicious I got and the more closely I listened. I figured that anyone who has to try that hard to manipulate people from the beginning has a reason. He's gonna try to pull something over on us. So radar up and critical-thinking-hat on!
6. Just over a year after John started as our new pastor, he began a 9-month-long series on Romans. (Any pastor who does a 9-month-long series on Romans is most likely a Calvinist who is doing it so that they can talk about Calvinism and predestination for 9 long months!)
At this point, the big Calvinist guns came out, and my husband and I began hearing some rather alarming things that didn't sound biblical. We were constantly baffled, going "What is he teaching!?!"
I still hadn't yet identified it as Calvinism (and so I couldn't research it online); I just knew something was really wrong with it. But I couldn't put my finger on it yet. And so I began taking notes about all the things he said that seemed wrong and all the verses he used... and I double-checked it all against Scripture, in context. And the more I compared what he taught with Scripture, the more wrong he became.
Also, I didn't just listen to the things he said, but I listened to the things he didn't say, to what he left out, to the things he clearly meant underneath the things he said. [Counselors know that what people say is only a small fraction of what they really mean.] And I considered the inevitable conclusions of what he taught and what it did to God's character. And I couldn't just accept "It's a mystery" or "We need to humbly accept the things we don't understand" as adequate answers to some of the terrible inevitable conclusions of his teachings.
Something was very wrong, and I needed to find out what was wrong and why it was wrong and what the Bible really said. After all, I had staked my soul on the Bible, on Jesus, and I needed to know that it was reliable, that God could be trusted. And so figuring out what my faith was really on - and why the pastor's version of it sounded so wildly off - was critical. My eternity depended on it. How I lived my life depended on it. How I understood God depended on it. My faith depended on it.
Under Pastor John's leadership, my simple faith (which I had for about 30 years at that point) was beginning to shake. Spiritual vertigo was setting in. Confusion. A hint of despair. My footing was slipping. I felt like the ground was starting to crumble underneath me, like all the things I ever believed about God and Jesus and faith were crashing down around me. I felt like I couldn't trust my own judgment anymore, my own ability to think or reason through things, to understand things properly, to recognize truth. If my commonsense understanding of the plain, simple truths of God, the Gospel, and the Bible had been wrong all this time, then I didn't think I could ever understand it or know any spiritual truth. I couldn't trust myself anymore. Things weren't making sense. And I could actually feel my soul suffocating, shriveling up, dying. (My husband, a believer for about 25 years at that point, also started having a crisis of faith.)
But I wasn't going to go down without a fight. I decided that I wasn't just going to get angry or afraid (and yes, I was both)... and I certainly wasn't going to let Pastor John's manipulation make me just fall in line with his disturbing teaching... but I was going to get educated. I was going to dive head-first and very deeply into figuring out what was wrong with his teaching and what the truth really was.
Thankfully (as I said), by this point in my life, I had been a Christian for about 30 years. And I had spent a lot of years studying the Bible, particularly and most recently (at the time) about God's Will and prayer and how He interacts with people (because I was writing about it on my blog). And so even before John began preaching Calvinism, I already had a very clear idea about how God interacts with people in the Bible, how He has given mankind freedom to move and choose and act, to include Him or ignore Him or reject Him, to pray or not pray, to obey or disobey, etc. And so when I began hearing the Calvinist teachings coming from this pastor, I immediately recognized it as definitely not how God is at all and not what the Bible plainly teaches when read in a commonsense way.
He couldn't be right. He just couldn't be. But since I still didn't realize his theology had a name, I couldn't look it up online to see what others said about it (which would've been so much easier and would've saved me a lot of time, allowing me to speak up a lot earlier). And so not knowing what it was, I had to research it in bits and pieces, by myself, as he dribbled tiny bits of into his sermons here and there over the years.
[FYI: When I start researching something, I get really deep into it, really tenacious until I figure it out (which is why I have to be very careful and selective about if and when I get interested in a topic or issue, and it's part of why I don't allow comments on this blog, so that I don't get consumed with and sidetracked by researching what others say). And so I spent a lot of time comparing what he said to the Bible.
And at first, I didn't want to find answers in any other person's writing or be tainted by anyone else's views, and so I went to the Bible only. I wanted to get a good grasp on what the Bible said before I started introducing what other people thought. And so in the beginning, it was the Bible and a good concordance, and that was it. Only later - after I solidified my views based only on the Bible and came to the solid conclusion that the pastor was unbiblical - did I look for other people who believed the way I did, who affirmed that I was right to see it the way I did.
Side-note: A huge, heart-felt Thank You to Pastor Tony Evans for being the one who kept my faith afloat, who kept me from going under all the way. In my efforts to see how deep the rabbit hole went - after I concluded that Pastor John was wrong - I looked up pastor after pastor to see what their theology was, if they thought the same as John. And, distressingly, pastor after pastor was Calvinist. And the Christian websites at the top of the search lists were all Calvinist too. And I was beginning to despair, to think that maybe I was wrong all this time and that they were right and that I had terrible judgment and that I would simply have to accept Calvinism as truth no matter how wrong it seemed and how much it didn't make sense.
But then I decided to look up one more pastor whom I always like and admired: Dr. Evans. He was the last one I would check out before I gave up the battle and resigned myself to Calvinism. But when I read about how he viewed salvation in his book Totally Saved, I breathed a huge sigh of relief. In fact, I felt like I could breathe again for the first time in years. His views matched up with my views perfectly. And it made perfect sense, matching the plain teachings of Scripture, affirming all the things I ever believed about God: that He was a truly loving, gracious, merciful, trustworthy God who wants all people to be saved, who made it possible for all people to be saved, but who allows people to choose for themselves. It gave me just the boost and strength I needed to keep clinging to my faith, and the fortitude I needed to continue resisting and fighting against Calvinism. I've said this before, Dr. Evans, but you'll be the first person I hug when I meet you in heaven. Thank you!
Here are some of his books I highly recommend (and watch him on YouTube):
Theology You Can Count On (A must read for all the basics! Everyone should have this one as their basic theology book. It's easy to read, practical, and - trust me - when you read it, you'll go "Wow, that makes sense and reflects the Bible's plain, clear teachings and upholds God's good, trustworthy character.")
Our God is Awesome: Encountering the Greatness of our God (This one was really healing to my soul after feeling it suffocating for 6 years under Calvinism.)
The Promise: Experiencing God’s Greatest Gift – The Holy Spirit
The Battle is the Lord’s: Waging Victorious Spiritual Warfare
Totally Saved: Understanding, Experiencing, and Enjoying the Greatness of Your Salvation (the book that helped my soul start breathing again)
And I also totally recommend this book from Billy Graham's daughter: Just Give Me Jesus by Anne Graham Lotz. This one also helped heal the damage Calvinism did to my soul. And it's worth reading a couple times.]
It was a long process: Listening to his sermons, trying to discern what he really believed underneath what he said (the biblical-sounding surface layer), picking out the bits that sounded wrong, comparing it to Scripture, looking up things in the concordance, cross-referencing it with other verses, figuring out what Scripture really was saying, etc. It took a lot of time. Years, in fact.
And I think Calvinist pastors are banking on this, on the naive, trusting ignorance of the congregation. It buys them time - valuable time - to entrench the church in Calvinism before anyone catches on and figures out what they're really teaching, that they're reforming the church under our noses.
Yes, I have major problems with Calvinist theology itself, but I have even more problems with how they go about strategically, stealthily spreading it through deception and manipulation. This is why I fight so openly and boldly against it.
If they were fully honest about their views and their intentions to reform a church from the beginning, to suck people into Calvinism, then I'd say "Well, the congregation knew what it was getting into, and they wanted it anyway. That was their choice." (Of course, I'd still warn about the errors of Calvinism, but with a certain amount of resignation, of "You all knowingly chose this, and there's nothing that can be done to help you now.")
But to know that Calvinist pastors strategically deceive and manipulate in order to take over a church under their noses, to lure people into Calvinism... well, that's a different story. It's something I can't stand for and that I feel compelled to call out as loudly and boldly as I can.
It's kinda like the difference between warning those who willingly, deliberately choose to run into a burning building... and warning those who don't realize they're being lured into a burning building. If they knowingly run into and remain in a burning building, that's their choice, and we can only say so much to help them. But if they don't know that they're being lured into a burning building (or that people are setting it on fire while they're in it) - but I do know - then I'm going to do all I can to warn them, to help them escape the encroaching, consuming flames that they can't see but that I can. And shame on me if I don't warn them, if I simply sit back and watch them burn.
(And if you don't think that they're doing this deliberately, read this Calvinist pastor's admission: "'Saint' PJ's Deceptions and Manipulations". They know exactly what they're doing, and they are strategic and stealthy about reforming a church, bidding their time, carefully laying the groundwork for years, using deception and evasiveness and double-talk when necessary.)
7. Before Pastor John came in, many people in the church would get together in small groups for Bible studies, operating independently, picking whatever topic or study they wanted, setting their own schedules.
But Pastor John quickly implemented his own kind of study groups where everyone meets weekly in small groups to discuss his sermons and how to apply them. He regularly, strongly encouraged everyone to join one, and (from what I've heard) attendance is taken and reported to the church office.
In these groups, everyone gets the same set of questions that are based on the pastor's sermons. And the questions have a Calvinist slant, starting with things like "Given the fact that predestination is a biblical truth, how should we...?").
My husband and I didn't like the way it was set up - how it focused on the pastor's sermons, dictated what you talked about, reported attendance, had a built-in Calvinist bias, etc. It was all just too narrow, too controlling, as though they don't trust the average Christian to be able to study the Bible on their own, and so we refused to join one.
8. During this time while he was manipulating the congregation into agreeing with him (or at least into not openly disagreeing with him) and constantly dripping Calvinism into his sermons and constantly quoting from Calvinist theologians (in one sermon, my husband noticed that John used not one Bible verse but many Calvinist quotes) and building his kingdom with his weekly sermon-based groups, he was also leading small-group studies of Wayne Grudem's Systematic Theology with the elders and other key people. Brainwashing key people into Calvinism in small batches, up close and personal.
And it worked. There was a friend at church (who worked there in various roles) whose his wife told me that he leaned more free-will than Calvinist. And so when we heard that he started taking Systematic Theology classes with Pastor John, we decided to warn him about it, in case he didn't realize what he was getting into.
My husband sent an email warning him that Wayne Grudem was a Calvinist and that John was immersing the church in Calvinism, encouraging him to be cautious and to research it for himself, and recommending some videos from Beyond the Fundamentals and Soteriology 101. My husband reminded him that we didn't leave the church for superficial reasons but because we really believe Calvinism is unbiblical. The strongest warning we could give.
We figured that out of everyone there, the one who already believed more in free-will would be the one most likely to heed our warnings, to recognize the errors of what John was teaching. Maybe this friend would be someone we could "pass the baton" to.
And the friend sent back a reply, thanking us for sharing our thoughts with him and admitting that he was a little apprehensive about starting a Wayne Grudem class because he knows it's reformed, and his training/understanding didn't fully support the 5 points of TULIP.
"However," he says, "truth is truth because God is truth, and we must not fear truth." [I knew right then that he was a goner.] He went on to quote a few verses about the truth making us free and about not quenching the Spirit. And he said that if these classes moved him to affirm Calvinism, then he praises God for it, admitting that he knows he still has growing and learning to do. He said that opening himself up to something uncomfortable makes him rejoice. It makes him thankful that "God has chosen to allow my flawed and finite mind to wrestle with and gain more understanding of His perfect and infinite ways." [I assumed this was the pastor's words coming right out of his mouth.]
My husband wondered if he should reply with something like "But what if it's not God's truth? What if you're being taught lies?"
I just shook my head and said, "He's gone. There's no point. He won't be able to hear it, not when he thinks he's learning 'truth' and humbly submitting to it."
Intimate, small-group brainwashing sessions between a strong pastor and key people in the church work.
And Calvinists know it works, as seen in this 9Marks article - in point #3 about how a Calvinist pastor should relate to the "gatekeepers" (key people in the church) when trying to reform it, and in point #5 about how the pastor should meet personally with prospective new members to "make sure they understand the gospel." (The Reformed gospel, of course.)
And it's also in this 9Marks article, which says "All the actual work of reform happened before the [business] meeting—in conversations. That’s how church reform works. You change people’s minds and shape people’s views in private–over coffee, a good book, and a Bible... So try to figure out to some degree who the church’s opinion leaders are, who are the people most likely to spread enthusiasm for reform among other members, and who would really cause a congregational sigh of relief if it turned out that they agreed with the reform. Then meet with those people, over and over and over. Be a friend to them, care for them, and at the right time, start asking questions and teaching about the nature of a Christian church. In time, you may find that you have more allies in reform than you thought—or, perhaps even better, you may find that you’ve created some.... Reforming a church is a long process that requires a whole lot of conversations, a whole lot of persuasion... Once you’ve been recognized as a leader in your church, the next step is to work on discipling other men who could also be recognized as leaders, and who, eventually, could join you in forming a majority of the leadership that wants to press for reform." [Notice that in their eyes, we're not really fellow believers but merely brains for them to mold.]
Now, of course, reaching out to people individually and building relationships with them would be good advice if you were trying to make godly changes... but not when it's Calvinists trying to take over a non-Calvinist church. In this case, it's cult-like tactics to brainwash people into an unbiblical theology. And that's much different.
And here's a question: If what they're teaching is truly clear, biblical truth, why do they have to go to such lengths, and use such strategic efforts, to sell it?
[NEVER trust when a Calvinist pastor says that they think Calvinism is a second-level, non-central issue, that it's something they can put on the backburner in order to focus on "primary/more important issues." Calvinism IS their central issue, and it taints every other view they hold. And they only call it a "secondary, non-central issue" to gain your trust and to get you to put your guard down, buying them time to spread Calvinism under your nose, entrenching the church deeper into Calvinism in subtle, sly, nearly-imperceptible ways. One sermon at a time. One person at a time. One drop of poison at a time. And it works.]
9. And though I'm not sure how many Calvinist books were in the church library before he came along, I started seeing them pop up more and more, especially in the new "Pastor's Picks" section and in his lists of "Books I Read" that he would post on the church blog. (Not to mention the constant use of Calvinist quotes in his sermons.) There was clearly a push to flood the church with and put the focus on Calvinist theologians and Calvinist writing.
10. Speaking of the church blog: From time to time, John would post things on the church blog about predestination and John Calvin and Spurgeon and about God ordaining sin and hardening people's hearts and other Calvinist things.
And for the longest time, they allowed people to comment on the posts. Most comments were like "Way to go, Pastor!"... "Bold preaching!"... "Love it!"... and "Dear God, please don't harden my heart!" (so sad!)... and the like. All very complimentary to the pastor. All praising his "wonderful" preaching.
All except me. As I became more educated and bold, I began leaving comments that disagreed (biblically and as politely as I could) with his view of predestination (and with his post about how God "commands us to spank our kids" and that it has to hurt!). To me, it seemed to be the only way to speak up, to let others in the congregation know that not everyone agreed with him, and to hopefully get conversation going, to bring this issue out in the open.
You see, the more my husband and I learned against Calvinism, the more we wanted to let others know. I was worried that there might be others out there who disagreed with the pastor too, but who felt so alone, too ashamed to speak up - people who were dying on the inside and feeling their faith suffocating, but who had no one to turn to, no one to help them. I wanted them to know that there were others who disagreed too, that it's okay to disagree, that there are really good reasons to disagree.
But it's hard to feel like a troublemaker and to be afraid of hurting someone else's enjoyment of their church or pastor. And so for the most part, we kept quiet, especially since we were still in the process of learning. We did speak up personally to a very few people we knew well, but other than that, we didn't know how to get the word out. We didn't want to make waves or be divisive, and we weren't yet educated enough to be very confident in speaking out, unsure of how to handle any opposition we might face. And so we only told a very few people our concerns.
But in my trivial efforts to speak up to the whole congregation, I began leaving comments on the church blog, hoping to help others see that not everyone agreed with Pastor John, that they too had permission to disagree, that they weren't alone.
But the church simply stopped allowing comments. Because of me.
In fact, the "nail in the coffin" for us happened when they deleted a biblical comment I made, disagreeing with his view of predestination. And the interesting thing for me was that I should've never found out about it to begin with.
I was at our family Christmas party, incredibly bored, and decided to look up the church blog to see if they posted my comment. (I have NEVER jumped online at a family party because I was bored. That would be rude.) And lo and behold, it was there, in black and white. I excitedly showed my husband and said, "Oh, wow, look! They posted it. Maybe they're going to allow different opinions on this, discussion about it."
We felt that as long as we could have open discussions about it and differing opinions, then we could stay there. We wouldn't have to leave. We just wanted people to be able to talk about this issue openly and to be researching it on their own and talking about what they've learned, even if we didn't all see it the same way.
But as we drove home from the Christmas party a couple hours later, I decided to look it up again, just to reread it again. But it was gone. In those couple hours, someone decided to delete it. (My guess is that the office people posted it, but then the pastor or an elder saw it and took it down.)
This was when we knew we couldn't stay there anymore. We knew we were done. It was hopeless and pointless to stay. We couldn't do anything to help the situation, and all it was doing was crushing our faith.
[Side note: I also once - early on, before I knew John's theology was wrong and started my anti-Calvinist blog - left a comment on the church blog sharing a link to one of my other blogs, hoping that the faith struggles I shared might help others on their faith journeys. And according to the stats on that blog, someone from the church clicked on the link and read the introduction to the Bible study I wrote. I was a little excited, thinking that maybe people would finally start reading my blog and maybe it would help people who are struggling in their own faith. But the very next post that John wrote on the church blog was about how we shouldn't study the Bible on our own, without input from educated, godly sources. It felt like a direct attack on me. I was mortified, and my hope crashed and burned.
But now, knowing that he is a Calvinist, I have to ask: Is this what Calvinist pastors really believe and teach - that the average Christian is incapable of reading and understanding the Bible on their own, that we need a [Calvinist] theologian looking over our shoulders, helping us read the Bible?
Yes, I think that's exactly what they believe - because I think they know Calvinism can only spread by Calvinists helping others read Calvinism into the Bible. Without their help, we'd barely find any evidence of Calvinism in the Bible, and so Calvinism wouldn't spread.
"Don't study the Bible on your own but only with the help of educated, 'godly' people" is a cult-like, Calvinist tactic to make sure you read the Bible in a Calvinist way.
And it probably explains MacArthur's comment that Alana L should just keep her mouth shut and that she doesn't know what she's talking about (she figured out what the Bible said on her own and is contradicting the Calvinist "giants of the faith"), and it explains why her pastors were upset that she studied the Bible on her own and formed her own conclusions of what God's Word says before she talked to them (because now they couldn't brainwash her anymore).
I can't remember if she said it in the Great Light Studios interview or her own video, but they're both worth watching.]
11. About 5 1/2 years after John came on board - after they deleted the comment on the church blog - we were finally ready to and willing to send a long letter to the elders voicing our concerns (see "Letter to our elders regarding Calvinism growing in our church", which also has my comments that got deleted from the church blog). It was our last-ditch effort. If the elders would do something about it or stand up for our concerns, then maybe we wouldn't have to leave. (We didn't realize at the time that all the elders are Calvinists too, as far as we can tell.)
But nothing happened.
Eventually, four months later, my husband asked if they had thought about our letter at all, and the head elder (one of our closest friends at that church, a Calvinist, a truly great guy) told us that the elders had written a letter but that he didn't want to give it to us because he didn't want to hurt us (not a good sign). We had never expected a reply from them, but my husband got upset knowing that they had one but wouldn't give it to us, that they basically just brushed it all under the carpet and went on like nothing happened. Once again, we just wanted things out in the open, on the table for discussion. But that wasn't going to happen. (See "Did our church handle it wrong when we left?")
And so we knew it was definitely time to leave. We were angry all the time after Sunday sermons, having to sit and listen to all the Bible-twisting and manipulation. We had no recourse, no way to reach people. We couldn't get people talking about it, thinking about it, or researching it for themselves. No one listened to our concerns (except for a couple friends, who also saw problems with the pastor's theology). And now the elders clearly knew all about our concerns but wouldn't do a thing about it, siding with him. And not only that, but it seemed to me that after our letter was sent, John didn't tone down the Calvinism at all but simply poured it on thicker, almost like "Well, now that the cat's out of the bag, may as well pour it on fully".
The church was only getting more and more Calvinist, and there was nothing we could do about it. And so - after being there almost 20 years, raising our kids there alongside other families we knew well, content to stay there forever - we wrote our resignation letter, a simple "We are resigning our membership because of strong theological disagreements with the head pastor." And we left quietly, other than telling a few core people exactly why we were leaving, still hoping that we could plant a seed, leave a mark, make someone else start thinking about it someday. (And now, four years later, one of those couples just left Calvinism. Praise God! And since they still go there and are closer to the inside than we were, maybe they can be the change we couldn't be.)
Sadly, months after we left, we got a letter from the church office thanking us for "leaving quietly."
I don't think that's something we should be thanked for. I think it shows a fault on our parts for not speaking up more boldly and openly and regularly against an unbiblical theology seeping into the Church. It makes me feel like we just quietly jumped into a lifeboat to save our skins, while letting everyone else go down with the ship.
If I could go back and do it again, I'd be more bold and vocal about it to the people around me, to anyone and everyone I could. I wouldn't keep my doubts to myself, but I'd share them with others (at least once).
But since I can't go back and do it again, I write this blog, to hopefully help others who find themselves in a similar situation.
[I also noticed that in the membership application at that church, they now make you promise to "leave quietly" if you resign from the church. I'm not sure if that was a requirement when we became members many years ago or if it's a new addition, but that's a weird thing - a wrong thing - to make people promise.]
12. The only specific request I made in the letter to the elders was that they do not allow predestination/Calvinism to be taught in the kids' classes (as it previously had been), or they should at least send a letter home to the parents first so that they know about it and can opt their kids out, if they want.
But shortly after we left (but my kids were still in the youth group), they began a school-year-long study of Ephesians, written by two Calvinists, focusing on various Calvinist concepts like "called, predestination, chosen, sovereignty," etc. (Biblical words, of course, but reinterpreted by Calvinists to push Calvinism).. and we never would've known about it if my kids hadn't told me and shown me the booklet.
And at the beginning of the study, the leaders said that they were going to be teaching kids the original meanings of these words, that people have corrupted these words over the years and so they were going to bring them back to the original, intended, "biblical" definitions.
But then right there at the top of the "predestination" page was a quote from R.C. Sproul: "Predestination means, in its elemental form, that the final destination of heaven or hell is decided by God before we get there and before we are born" (Essentials of the Faith).
"Biblical definitions," huh?
More like "Sproul's definitions"!
And so the only solid, clear request I made was totally ignored. [See "Update to 'Letter to our elders,' about teaching predestination in the kids' classes"]
13. Somewhere around the time we resigned from the church (6 years after John was hired), I found the church's name listed with The Gospel Coalition's church-finder website. I'm not sure exactly when that happened, but I think it was within the couple years before we left. And then after we left, I found the church newly listed with the 9Marks church-finder. And to be on both of those websites, you must hold to reformed teaching. So within about 6 years of hiring a Calvinist pastor, the church was admitting to being reformed (though maybe not to the congregation).
14. The friend who recently left Calvinism (but who is still at that church) told me that she got a peek at an application for leaders at that church, and she saw that in order to be a leader there, it was clearly, formally required that you hold to reformed teaching. I'm not sure when that became required or if the congregation knows it's required, but within 10 years [because it's now 4 years after we resigned] of John being the pastor, the church went from no clear, outright Calvinism to "leaders must be reformed."
I asked her if the congregation knows the church is Calvinist and if they had a say in it, or if it was done under their noses. And she said that all the people on the inside know among themselves that it's reformed, but she's not sure how much the congregation knows it. (My guess is not much, especially since there are still people there who don't seem to know what Calvinism is and who don't think the church teaches it. Although it clearly does. If you know how to listen for it.)
15. This isn't a specifically Calvinist thing, but one thing that really bothered us was the "campaign" that John pushed to get the church mortgage paid off. Now, of course, there's nothing wrong with wanting to pay off the mortgage or with gently encouraging people to give above and beyond tithe when it's needed.
But every week for many months, he had people up in front of church telling us that God wanted us to give more and more money so that we could pay off the mortgage. They had people get up there and give their testimonies about how they obeyed God's command to give more money and how God blessed them for it. It wasn't just a gentle nudge or an occasional reminder; it was every week for months. It was aggressive and manipulative and guilting people into it.
At one point, I told my husband that we could never invite his unbelieving family to our church. (By this point, I wasn't inviting anyone to church anymore.) They already think that Christians are just a bunch of televangelist-types who just want your money... and our church was proving them right.
Once again, it's not wrong to gently encourage people to give to pay off the mortgage, but I was concerned more about the way they were going about doing it and what the cost would be, how it would repel visitors more than draw them in. I was ashamed to be part of a church like that, embarrassed to call myself Christian if this is how Christians acted at church.
We never gave to the campaign because it just didn't feel right. It seemed like the pastor was trying too hard to raise all this money too fast. I wondered if he wanted a "feather in his cap," something he could point to and say "Look at what I accomplished."
I may be wrong. But after the mortgage was paid off, we began to see many new updates, improvements, and changes to the church and the church grounds (and they updated the logo). Of course, updates are needed from time to time, and it's not wrong to improve things. But considering the way John went about guilting people for more money week after week so that we could "do more outreach in the community," it seemed incongruent to see all these new improvements to the church.
At what point does trying to glorify God slide into self-glorification? At what point does a pastor go from building God's kingdom to building his kingdom? I'm not sure, but I kinda had the feeling we were watching the slow slide happen right before our eyes.
16. And here are three totally small things that happened after we left:
One: We recently saw a friend who attends that church and she was wearing a t-shirt that had a quote on it, attributed to the pastor. It was a saying he always uses. Not a Bible verse or gospel message or anything like that, but a saying he uses every sermon along the lines of "Okay now, let's wrap it up," signed "Pastor John Blahblah." I find that weird.
I'm sure I'm being overly critical, and I'm sure they did it out of love and support for the pastor, thinking it's all cute and funny to wear his sayings on their shirts. But when I picture it from his perspective - him looking out at the congregation wearing his quotes, with his name on it - I can't help but feel like it's kinda creepy and cult-like, like "Look at all my minions!"
I know I'm not being totally fair here because I'm merely speculating, but he's always struck me as the type of person who viewed the church as his kingdom, as if he wants to make a bunch of Mini-Me's who revere and emulate him: The community groups that discuss his sermons. Not allowing disagreement with his views. Surrounding himself with elder "yes men," (so it seems to me). Personally taking people through Grudem studies to mold what they think. The many updates made to the church and the grounds. The many times he would tell us what he does in his own life, as if we should all want to do it too: "I spank my kids" (and so should you)... "I do family devotions this way" (and so should you)... "I read these books" (and so should you)... "I worship admire these theologians" (and so should you)... etc."
And now, his quotes on t-shirts.
[It kinda reminds me of the pastor at Elevation Church, Steve Furtick, who has coloring books for the kids with his pictures in it and words like "We are united under the Visionary [Furtick]. Elevation Church is built on the vision God gave Pastor Steven. We will protect our unity in supporting his vision." Totally creepy! (See this reddit post on it and this interesting post about other concerns at that church from Church Watch Central.)]
Two: A friend who still went to the church (one of the nicest, sweetest, most thoughtful and gentle people I know, who's very concerned with never causing trouble or hurting/offending anyone) sat in the back of the church once (in an open seat, not blocked off in any way) to listen to the sermon. And before the service, one of the ushers confronted her and told her to move up to a closer seat because the pastor likes people to be closer to the stage. She, being an introvert like me, was humiliated and felt terrible.
I was upset for her. I told her that I would've gotten up and left. I mean, what if she had been a visitor? Could you imagine how embarrassing it would be to be a visitor in our church for the first time, already feeling awkward and alone and uncertain, and then after you sit in an open seat where you feel most comfortable, some usher confronts you in front of everyone and makes you feel like you did something wrong just by sitting - all because the pastor wants everyone closer to the stage, closer to his feet. I was mad and felt so bad for her. A church who does that has their priorities out of line.
And three: When I met with the pastor at our new church (I'll call him Mike) and told him which church just we left (right down the street), Mike chuckled and said that when he met Pastor John, the first question John asked him was "What seminary did you go to?" I could tell that Mike was a little surprised and put off by it, as if he could tell that John was sizing him up, trying to figure out what his theology was and if Mike was as good as himself. At least, that's how it sounded to me. I simply said, "Yeah, that sounds exactly like how John is."
17. And finally, a bonus item: Something else worth noting about Pastor John is that in the 6 years we sat under his leadership, he never once gave an altar call, never once asked if anyone wanted to accept Jesus as their Lord and Savior right then and there. And he would never tell the audience "God loves you and wants you to be saved." (But we sure did hear regularly about how depraved we are and how we should just be thankful that God chose to save anyone at all instead of letting us all burn.) You see, Calvinists can't promise all people that God loves them and wants to save them because there could be non-elect people in the audience.
John would say "The Bible commands all people to repent and believe," but he never gave an altar call, never gave people the chance to do it. And I once found an article he wrote where he explained why: He doesn't do altar calls because he doesn't want people thinking that they are saved just by walking the aisle.
Bologna! I would bet money that it's really because he doesn't want people thinking that salvation is a choice, that we can choose to put our faith in Jesus. Because Calvinists don't think it's a choice we can make. They think that God makes that choice for us and that the non-elect can never choose to believe in Jesus.
And on top of that, John states that the goal of evangelism/missions is to make God famous and bring Him glory. [Because, according to him, God's biggest goal and focus - and practically His only goal and focus - is to get more glory for Himself (and He can do it anyway He wants to, even "ordaining" sin and predestining people to hell).]
Really!?! Because I thought that according to Matthew 28:19, the goal of evangelism and missions was to "go and make disciples of all the nations." I thought that it's to get people saved, to help them find eternal life.
John 20:31: “But these are written that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that by believing you may have life in his name.”
I mean, isn't that why Paul preached, why he became all things to all people: "so that by all possible means I might save some" (1 Cor. 9:22)?
But maybe I'm misreading it.
(See "Calvinists, Altar Calls, and Evangelism" for more on this. Calvinism is so messed up!)
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Anyway, this is a rough version of how Calvinism spread in our church, of watching it take over. It took about 6 years to go from no Calvinism... to affirming that they are reformed by joining the Calvinist church-finders.
Sadly, it took us about 6 years to figure out what the pastor was teaching, why/how it was wrong, what Scripture really said, and to feel confident enough to speak up. And by that time, it was too late.
After having seen firsthand how Calvinism stealthily infiltrates and takes over a church, I echo something that Kevin from Beyond the Fundamentals said in his video "Stealth Calvinism in Oklahoma" (my paraphrase):
"By the time you realize what's going on and start looking up information about Calvinism online, it's too late."
Time is of the essence. If we hadn't waited and researched for 6 years before speaking up, maybe we could have reached more people. And so even if you aren't sure yet what Calvinism is, even if you have only an inkling that something is wrong but you're not sure what, start telling people.
You know, to try to get Calvinism out of the church, maybe we should follow the plan Calvinists use to get it into the church: Talk to a lot of people one-on-one, spreading doubt about Calvinism and encouraging the people to research it on their own, to be good Bereans, right under the noses of the Calvinist leaders.
"You change people’s minds and shape people’s views in private–over coffee, a good book, and a Bible... So try to figure out to some degree who the church’s opinion leaders are, who are the people most likely to question Calvinism too [or just anyone who will listen to and consider your concerns]... Then meet with those people, over and over and over... and at the right time, start planting doubts about the pastor's Calvinist teachings, start pointing out how Calvinism damages God's character and contradicts the plain, commonsense teaching of Scripture. In time, you may find that you have more allies than you thought—or, perhaps even better, you may find that you’ve created some.... Fighting Calvinism in a church is a long process that requires a whole lot of conversations, a whole lot of persuasion. So get busy talking to people now, before it's too late."
Looking back now - having seen how being too quiet for too long simply allowed Calvinism to seep deeper into the church and people's minds - I would encourage you to just start speaking up to as many people as you can, as early as you can, even if you don't yet feel knowledgeable enough or bold enough. If something sounds wrong, start letting others know it. Start planting seeds. Start discussions. Start examining the Scriptures together more carefully.
The more aware people are that something might be wrong, the more they might open their ears and critically think about what they're being taught, comparing it to what God plainly says in the Word. And the more people you can get talking about it, the more open the discussions will be and the less likely it is that Calvinists can operate subversively... and the less likely it is that you'll have to stand alone when the time comes to fight against it.
If you sense something is wrong, most likely there are others who do too. But we all keep quiet because we all think that we're the only ones, that there must be something wrong with us. Don't be tricked into thinking that the problem is you, that you're just misunderstanding things or resisting God or having an emotional reaction to "hard teachings."
Speak up to others (with love and grace) and explore it all together (as iron sharpens iron)... before it's too late. (See "When Calvinism Infiltrates Your Church" for more on this.)
I speak from experience, from doing it wrong. But hopefully, my story of losing my church can help others save theirs. God bless! And now go be a good Berean!
