We Need a Calvinist Deprogramming Plan (Leighton? Jason? Jordan?)
Since I don't leave comments on YouTube videos or Facebook and don't have a way to reach these guys, I am putting this out there openly, publicly, hoping that maybe someone out there can get this message to someone like Leighton Flowers (Soteriology 101) or Jason Breda (Living Christian) or Jordan Hatfield (Great Light Studios, because of his knowledge of cults and how they work).
Here's my idea:
We need someone to write a plan, steps, to help deprogram people, elder boards, and churches from Calvinism - especially for churches where stealth Calvinism took over when a Calvinist pastor slyly and systematically led people into Calvinism under their noses, but then the church members began to wake up and realize something was wrong but didn't know who to turn to or where to begin to set things right, to get back on the right track.
This idea hit me when I considered if we could ever go back to our old church if the Calvinist pastor left. I realized that, no, I couldn't go back unless and until the elder board (and church) was deprogrammed from the Calvinism. Because we'd just be at risk of it happening all over again. The elder board and church would need to first learn to see things correctly and biblically again. They'd need to be taught to recognize the errors and tactics of Calvinism, how they got tricked into it, how it spreads and takes over. And they'd need to be re-taught the simple truths of the Bible again, what God is really like, what the gospel really is, and how to read the Bible as it was intended to be read. And they'd need some encouragement along the way to give them hope, to revive the dying embers of their faith, to mend their hurting hearts - the damage Calvinism often does to people. Etc.
What a monumental task, one in which most people and churches wouldn't even know where to start.
And that's when I realized that it would be so helpful to have a comprehensive resource about how to get your church (or yourself or your loved ones) out of Calvinism, to fix the damage and brainwashing it's done.
It took lots of time and strategy for Calvinists to lead people and churches into Calvinism, and it's going to take time and strategy to lead them out.
And so the Church needs a plan, a comprehensive resource it can turn to for help.
And I would love to see someone knowledgeable in this area create something like this, someone with the right gracious temperament and yet boldness and firmness. Leighton Flowers... Jason Breda... Jordan Hatfield... the three of you working together (awesome!)... would you consider tackling a project like this?
We need a "how to deprogram the church from Calvinism" plan, especially since Calvinism acts very much like a cult (see my post "The 9 Marks of a Calvinist Cult").
Rebuilding from the damage Calvinism has done can be a huge task, leaving a church or person floundering around as they try to get their feet back under them. And it'll be so much harder to do if they're going about it randomly, on their own, trying to figure out what went wrong, how to fix it, who to trust, how to protect themselves from getting duped again, etc. And it's even harder when they're not sure where to seek help and when they realize there are multiple areas that need to be fixed.
Leighton, Jason, and Jordan (or any other non-Calvinist who feels called), would you consider creating a resource (a systematic, yet simplified, step-by-step plan) that would help people and churches ...
... to undo the damage and brainwashing Calvinism has done...
... learn to spot the basic errors, dangers, and tactics of Calvinism (so they can see what went wrong and how it went wrong, to help them be discerning in the future and protect themselves from it happening again)...
... learn to begin reading the Bible the right way again, to understand God's true character and the gospel again...
... help them revive their faith and bring them encouragement after the suffocation and strangulation it experienced under Calvinism...
... learn to spot Stealth Calvinism and to identify which preachers/theologians/websites are Calvinist (I've got some ideas here)...
... and find ways to salvage the church and elder board (to correct the statement of faith and bylaws and hiring requirements, etc., and to weed out the Calvinism) instead of helplessly watching it split or fall apart...
These are just some ideas to include, but I'm sure you can think of more.
And I'm not asking this for my church specifically, but it's something I think could benefit the whole Church at large. And I think there will be more and more need for this as more and more people and churches wake up to the errors and dangers of Calvinism.
[And would someone out there reading this please suggest this in the comment section of their websites or provide a link to this post so they can read it themselves? Maybe there's already a resource like this out there, I don't know. But if so, I've never stumbled across it. And having more couldn't hurt anyway, could it? 🙂]
