Troublemaker #4 (Calvangelism)
[This is part of the "Troublemaker series", explaining why I think Calvinism is worth making a fuss about, worth being called a "troublemaker" over.]
4. Calvinist Evangelism
Calvinists say that the elect were chosen for salvation from the very beginning, even before they were created. And so Calvinism's gospel and Calvinism's evangelism (Calvangelism?) really has no actual determining effect whatsoever on anyone's destiny. It doesn't, and can't, rescue anyone from hell - because the Calv-elect were never on their way to hell at any point in time and the non-elect can never be saved from hell. And so all Calvinism does is convince the Calv-elect that they were always saved from the beginning of time (even without ever having to make a deliberate, conscious decision to accept Jesus into their hearts as Lord and Savior - something Calvinist David Platt calls "unbiblical and dangerous"), while having no effect whatsoever on the non-elect.
And here it is: Calvinists evangelize to seal the non-elect in their predetermined condemnation when they reject the gospel as Calvi-god predestined.
So Calvangelism doesn't just convince the elect that they're elect, but it helps seal the non-elect in their damnation - because the non-elect need to hear the gospel in order to reject the gospel, in order to be "guilty" of rejecting the gospel, so that Calvi-god can punish them in hell for rejecting the gospel (which brings Calvi-god glory), just as he predetermined it to be.
Do you realize that this is what we're supporting when we send out Calvinist missionaries into the world!?!
According to Calvinists, this is "successful" evangelism.ššš
a. From "If God predestines people, why evangelize?": "If God is Sovereign, Our Evangelism Has a 100% Success Rate: In a culture where evangelism may lead people to walk away and even scoff at our words, we can have confidence in our preaching efforts. Because God is the Author of salvation (and not our evangelistic proficiency or presentation), our faithful proclamation of the Gospel will yield the exact result the Lord has willed."
c. Heidelberg Theological Seminary ("The Doctrine of Limited Atonement..."): "It is inaccurate to say that we 'offer' salvation to all men... The non-elect person will never have ears to hear this and obey. Yet, the call of the gospel must be sincerely given, allowing God to gather his people by the power of His Holy Spirit. ["The gospel is only for the elect."]
... It is precisely through this preaching of the gospel that God has determined to save His elect for whom Christ died.... God will also use the preaching of the gospel to condemn those who reject it and continue in their unbelief [by Calvi-god's decree]. The success of preaching is guaranteed, for none of the sheep will be lost... Others do not hear the voice of Jesus and will not believe, because they are not His sheep whom He died for... Success is not determined by how many become Christians, but it is a matter of faithfulness in bringing the true gospel of salvation to the ends of the earth.
... When we say that we 'freely proclaim' the gospel we must not think that all men are equally capable of receiving it in faith... It should be remembered the purpose of preaching the gospel is two-fold. It is a message of salvation to all who believe, and a message of condemnation to all who reject it. But all men need to hear it..."
d. My ex-pastor (April 7, 2019): “God is the one who opens eyes. God is the one who closes eyes. To God be the glory. And this should bring a freedom in our evangelism [and] in our mission endeavors. Otherwise, someone like [a missionary who had no converts] would come home and feel like an utter failure. But the reason he didn't - and the reason he doesn't have to - is because he understood the sovereignty of God. And it’s God who gives the results... Meaning that whether someone ends up believing or not, that’s God’s call. And what many miss is this is a very liberating thing when you share the gospel... God sovereignly opens some regions and hearts to the gospel, and He sovereignly closes some hearts and regions to the gospel. And ladies and gentlemen, that is needed tonic to the Western church which has become so man-centered... It is God only who gives results. And that is something the Western church needs to embrace, remember, and rejoice in as the gospel goes out.”
e. An atheist (Godless Granny) asks a Calvinist named Joe this question [Watch the video of this conversation at Soteriology 101's "Warning: This may be the CRINGIEST video you watch about Calvinism"]: "What is the purpose of telling people about God if the only way they can come to believe is if God chooses to come and move them?" Joe answers "Because any kind of evangelistic efforts, I have a 100% success rate for the kingdom of God. So either it is going to add to the condemnation of vessels prepared for wrath, for destruction, that God will use to glorify Himself - so it will be adding to the condemnation of unbelievers where God will be just in destroying them for eternity - or He will use the preaching of the gospel...[to] draw the elect to Himself. So I have a 100% success rate with whatever I'm doing because I'm accomplishing God's purpose either way."
Godless Granny then asks, "If you found out that God chose not to save one or more of your children, how would you feel about that?" And Joe answers "It means He's God. You see, God is a bigger being than I am. He's higher than I am. And I sure hope that God has chosen my children...but if God chooses not to save my children, that is His prerogative because He is God and I am not God. He decides who's in His heaven. He decides who's in His hell."
Godless Granny then points out that the odds are that at least one of Joe's children is predestined to eternal torment in hell, and she asks "And you don't have a problem with that?" And Joe responds "Okay, we've got two ways to look at this. This is a glass half-full or half-empty. Either I can rejoice that God chose a wretched sinner for salvation, which is me, or I can worry about God's choices with other wretched sinners. [So "Don't worry about the damnation of others. Be concerned only for yourself, and no one else." Does this sound to you like God's truth, like God's heart? Does it sound like the apostle Paul who grieved over the lost, wishing even that he could trade places with them if it meant they'd be saved?] When I realize that the human nature and the human position against God is that I've sinned against an almighty God and that everyone deserves His judgment, I should be mystified, shocked, and stunned whenever He chooses anyone, not surprised when someone doesn't get chosen."
This is the glorious end of Calvinism, where it leads to!
Oh, how this must hurt his children's hearts! How it must crush their spirits, their self-esteem, their hope, and their faith to be taught that mere humans might love them more than God does, that they might exist merely to glorify God with their damnation, that there's nothing they can do about it... and that their father is cool with it!
Oh, but Kumbaya!
In fact, bringing condemnation on the non-elect is such a priority in Calvinism (because it's Calvi-god's Will and he gets glory for it) that Calvinists (not all of them, of course, but the more consistent ones) will say that we even need to celebrate it and praise God for it (because Calvi-god is glorified by it and because we should be thankful that we're not in the non-elect's shoes) and that if we don't celebrate it, then we might not even be true Christians:
Will Graham, ("God's glory is more important than us"): "... 'the Scriptures reveal that the foremost desire of God’s heart is not our salvation but rather the glory of His own name...' Everything is ultimately subject to the grand purpose of glorifying God’s great name. That’s right- everything! Even salvation and condemnation! God will be glorified eternally independently of what lot befalls the sons of men. So God calls you to rejoice in Him, in His will and in His glory because you were created by Him and for Him." [See my post "Is God only concerned about His glory?"]
Matthew McMahon (The Two Wills of God, pg 349): "The saints should delight in the reprobation of the wicked... We come to understand and praise God concerning the damnation of other people. We understand that we could have been what they are. We contemplate their eternal destiny, and bow before the throne to praise the Creator and the Father we have. How awesome is that grace which He bestowed upon us in His Son!"
Paul Washer (“The Gospel is only Good News to a needy man”): “If you reject Christ, then the moment when you take your first step through the gates of hell, the only thing you will hear is all of creation standing to its feet and applauding and praising God because God has rid the earth of you. That’s how not good you are." [So Luke 15:10 says that the angels rejoice over every sinner who repents. But Calvinists want us to believe that God's creation rejoices over every sinner who doesn't repent.ššš ]
Robert Golding [Themelios, Vol 46, Issue 1, "Making Sense of Hell"]: "... Jonathan Edwards taught that the saints in heaven will rejoice over the damnation of their unbelieving family members in hell because they will be witnessing the justice of God in glorious display... Traditionally, Christians [Calvinists!] have taught that the necessity of hell is such that, without it, God would not be fully glorified since his justice would not be fully manifest. [So Calvi-god's glory is dependent on hell and sin!?! And yet Calvinists accuse non-Calvinists of shrinking God and tarnishing His glory! Ha!]... I have sought to show that the reprobate are so hellish that any fond feelings for them...are misplaced."
So... Kumbaya?š
Kevin DeYoung ("Is it Okay for Christians to believe in the doctrine of hell but not like it?"): "It takes a certain courage to look at what the Bible teaches, not like it all that much, and still believe it... But it’s a better sign when we take our stand on the Bible and learn to love where the Bible stands. Take hell for example. Should Christians rejoice in the doctrine of hell?... It’s never safe to dislike the truths God has revealed. We should actually like what the Bible teaches... God is good and his ways are always right. [Yeah, I know, but it's the Calvinists who are wrong in their ideas of who God is and what God does!] It is a measure of our maturity that we not only affirm the truth of God’s word but rest in the goodness and rightness of it." [So we prove we're mature Christians when we enjoy and celebrate the eternal damnation of "reprobates"!?! Sick, sick, sick!]
Jonathan Edwards ("The End of the Wicked Contemplated by the Righteous", section 2): "... the just damnation of the wicked [who were wicked by Calvi-god's decree, through no choice of their own] will be an occasion of rejoicing to the saints in glory... [they will] rejoice in seeing the justice of God executed... the sufferings of the damned will be no occasion of grief to the heavenly inhabitant, as they will have no love nor pity to the damned as such.... the heavenly inhabitants will know that it is not fit that they should love them, because they will know then, that God has no love to them, nor pity for them; but that they are the objects of God’s eternal hatred... God glorifies himself in the eternal damnation of the ungodly men. God glorifies himself in all that he doth; but he glorifies himself principally in his eternal disposal of his intelligent creatures, some are appointed to everlasting life, and others left to everlasting death... [The saints in heaven] will therefore greatly rejoice in all that contributes to that glory. The glory of God will in their esteem be of greater consequence, than the welfare of thousands and millions of souls."
And finally, just to make it personal and drive the point home: R.C. Sproul (listen at 4:45 in "James White Responds - Infant Salvation?"): "Don't you know that when you're in heaven, you'll be so sanctified that you'll be able to see your own mother in hell and rejoice in that, knowing that God's perfect justice is being carried out."
And yet the Bible says:
"Say to them, 'As surely as I live, declares the Sovereign Lord, I take no pleasure in the death of the wicked, but rather that they turn from their ways and live..." (Ezekiel 33:11)
"For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him." (John 3:17)
"God did this so that men would seek him and perhaps reach out for him and find him, though he is not far from each one of us." (Acts 17:27)
"... I tell you, there is rejoicing in the presence of the angels of God over one sinner who repents" (Luke 15:10).
But Calvinists think that a goal of evangelism is to bring condemnation on the non-elect, to seal them in hell... and that everything and everyone will and should rejoice in the death and destruction of the wicked non-elect who were predestined by Calvi-god to be wicked.
Does this reflect the heart of God?
If not, then - hmm, I wonder - whose heart does it reflect?
[So are you still unsure if Calvinism is worth making trouble over or not?]
