Alana L: 5W (educated into Calvinism/Calvinism's success)

This series is loosely based on this 14-minute video from Alana L.: 5 Signs Your Loved One is Becoming a Calvinist  

 

Point #5 Still:

W. I agree with Alana that Calvinism contradicts the plain, clear, commonsense understanding of Scripture.

And that we have to be taught to find Calvinism in the Bible because it's not there. 

And even the Calvinists know this.  

In Doctrine of Election, Calvinist A.W. Pink says "Unless we are privileged to sit under the ministry of some Spirit-taught servant of God, who presents the truth [the doctrine of election] to us systematically, great pains and diligence are called for in the searching of the Scriptures, so that we may collect and tabulate their scattered statements on this subject. It has not pleased the Holy Spirit to give us one complete and orderly setting forth of the doctrine of election, but instead 'here a little, there a little'... No novice is competent to present this subject in its scriptural perspective and proportions."  

Hahaha, do you know what this means?  That Calvinists know that Calvinism's doctrine of election is not clearly, obviously, thoroughly taught in any place in Scripture, that it has to be scraped together in bits and pieces, and that we would have a hard time finding it without the help of a Calvinist teacher systematically leading us through the Bible.  

So it takes a highly educated expert to teach these things, because the average common Christian cannot understand or learn them on their own.  (Suspicious!)  

[And they get us to "see" Calvinism in the Bible by first redefining words and teaching us to read verses in a Calvinist way.  I mean, seriously, would anyone read John 3:16 and naturally think it means that God has already chosen who will believe, that Jesus died only for those people, and that God causes only those people to believe but that He has predetermined everyone else will be unable to believe so that they go to hell just like He predestined?  No.  We have to be taught to believe that this is what the Bible teaches by having Calvinists first tell us that "depravity" and "spiritual death" mean that people are unable to believe and that "election, predestination, sovereignty and Romans 9" are about God choosing, orchestrating, causing, controlling who gets saved... when these actually don't mean that at all.]     

This confirms two things: The sense of pride and spiritual authority that Calvinists have, and the fact that Calvinism is not clearly, easily found anywhere in the Bible and so people have to be educated into it by other Calvinists (often while the Calvinist hides the "Calvinism" label so that we can't research for ourselves what they're teaching).  Very revealing!  

Unbelievably, here's a whole sermon series by a Calvinist on how to preach Calvinism covertly, literally called "Covert Calvinism".  And he does exactly what I said - strategically teaching Calvinist theology without calling it Calvinism, slowly modifying people's thinking through Calvinist definitions and carefully-chosen verses interpreted Calvinisticly, until they believe that Calvinism is really taught in the Bible.

And don't just take my word for it.  Read the sermons.  Or even just the descriptions to the sermons, which includes: "[this is] a prelude sermon to a covert series on Calvinism... This is the 'Total Depravity' sermon without using the stock theological labels. It is the first sermon in the series and it's covert because too many of our [listeners] will shut down their receptors when they hear the words 'Calvinism.'... [This sermon] focuses on God the Father choosing us to be his children. It uses biblical, not theological ["Calvinist"], language to teach about election."  

It isn't until the last sermon in the series that he reveals what he's been teaching: "This is the summary sermon where I finally reveal that this series covers the same material that is often called the '5 Points of Calvinism.'"  

He deliberately waits until after he indoctrinates people with Calvinism - through biblical-sounding sermons full of carefully-chosen, Calvinisticly-interpreted verses - before he reveals that he's been stealthily teaching Calvinism all along, without their awareness.  

Basically, the plan is "indoctrinate them with Calvinism without telling them, and then once they're hooked, reveal to them that they are now Calvinists."

This is how Calvinists reform our thoughts under our radar.

The 9Marks' article Build Fences Around Your Flock emphasizes the importance of indoctrinating new members into Calvinism: "One of the first questions we ask each prospective member is: 'What is the gospel?'  We want to make sure every member understands the gospel.  If it becomes clear they don't understand it, we immediately pause the interview and move the candidate into a class called 'Christianity Explained.'"  

And, lo and behold, the "Christianity Explained" class uses a book by Calvinist Mark Dever - head of 9Marks - to teach the Calvinist version of Christianity and the gospel.  This is nothing more than a Calvinist Indoctrination Class that prospective new members who don't see things in a Calvinist way are required to take before being allowed into the church as members.  

Listen to how the stealth Calvinist pastor in the "Reformed by the Word" article handles it when he began facing opposition to his Calvinist theology: "By January of 1999, questions began to be raised by some in our congregation.  In a deacon’s meeting, one of our deacons asked if I was a 'Calvinist.'  When I asked what he meant, he really didn’t know.  He just knew it was something bad.  So, I asked specifically what I had taught that concerned him.  Again, he didn’t know of anything.  He’d just heard this word used about me.  Clearly there was 'talk' going around.  I decided the best way to answer his question would be to lead the deacons through a study."

So instead of just answering the question "Are you a Calvinist?," he turns the question back on the person (strategic evasiveness).  And then, still not answering the question, he decides to lead the deacons through Calvinist indoctrination classes.  To reform their thinking.  To brainwash them.  

And guess what?  It works.  In the end, the church chose to keep him as pastor.  But it split the church and up to half the people left.  And though he says it was difficult, he goes on to celebrate the fact that the church split, saying that it led to "great freedom" - because "the people who remained [there] wanted to be there. They wanted the truth of the Gospel. They wanted reformation."  

And with the opposition gone, they "were able to begin the process, unhindered, of revising our constitution to bring it in line with Scripture [he means "in line with Calvinism"]... The process of basic reformation took another three years, and really it’s still going on.  Like shaping your soul, the work of shaping a church takes years of persistence.  You can’t do it in a five-year pastorate."

From a "church reform" article from Founders Ministry: "The third principle of reforming a local church involves both the demolition of misguided theological notions and the laying of a biblical foundation anchored by the doctrines of grace [Translation: Replace all other theological views with Calvinism.] ... What doctrines are we talking about?  The doctrines that are worth dying for are foundational, biblical doctrines, not secondary ones*... We speak first of all of the doctrines of grace [that's code for Calvinism].  Teach your people that they are utterly depraved and dead in their sins without God. Teach them that God chose the elect for salvation from the foundation of time out of his own mercy and desire..."

*To Calvinists, Calvinism is "the gospel/Christianity itself," so never believe a Calvinist who says that Calvinist doctrines are "secondary, back-burner issues not worth fighting about or dividing over."  (That's merely an attempt to manipulate people into keeping quiet, falling in line, and not fighting back.)  As that article says in the introduction to that "reform plan": "In reality, Calvinism is nothing more than biblical Christianity... These [Calvinist] doctrines are foundational to a God-centered theology. They are the heart of historical, orthodox Christianity."    

To Calvinists, Calvinism IS the gospel, the Bible, the sum total of Christianity.  So do you really think they would ever or could ever let Calvinism be a secondary, back-burner, not-that-important, shouldn't-cause-division issue?  No Calvinist worth his salt would do that.  

Make no mistake, they will always be pushing Calvinism because they think it's synonymous with Christianity itself.  But if they think we'll resist it, they'll call it a "secondary issue" and "finer points" and they'll promise to put it in the background, in favor of "more important issues."  But no good Calvinist pastor will ever let this truly be a background issue.  They'll just go underground with it, undercover, cloaking it in "biblical" language so that they can spread it in more inconspicuous ways that don't trigger our alarm bells as easily. 

Keep in mind that whoever controls the language - and the cherry-picking/interpretation of Scripture - also controls the conversation and destination.  This is a way that cults work.

From my "9 Marks of a Calvinist Cult #7 (thought-reform)": 

In Chapter 2 (Scaling the Language Barrier) of Walter Martin's book "The Kingdom of the Cults" (The Revised, Updated, and Expanded Anniversary Edition, October 1997), we read this about religious cults (this is my paraphrased summary):

Terminology and definitions matter.  When words are allowed to be redefined incorrectly - and those incorrect definitions are allowed to spread to people and throughout generations (because of our apathy or ignorance) - it can become a powerful weapon to enslave the masses.  Cult leaders know this and use it to their advantage, hijacking language with their own definitions to slowly, hypnotically lead people in the path they want them to go.

Cultists are experts at taking texts out of their proper context, with no concern for the laws of language, logic, or proper biblical interpretation.

Religious cult leaders use the Bible's terminology and concepts, but in a very different way than how it was originally intended and how it's commonly, historically understood.  They use the Bible's terms, but they secretly redefine them to fit their own theological framework.

This is why the cultist will often appear to be - and claim to be - in full agreement with you, because they are using the same words, same concepts, same verses.  You just don't realize that they've got very different definitions and interpretations.

At first glance, a cult's redefinitions will appear to be in harmony with the historic teachings of the Christian faith.  But this harmony is superficial at best - because it cannot hold up under serious biblical scrutiny when Scripture is read properly and in context and when words are correctly defined.

Cults take advantage of the fact that the average Christian is almost totally unaware of the "subtle art" of redefining terms.  And much time is wasted debating about Scripture with cultists - talking in circles - when spending just a few minutes at first defining the terms would have disarmed them of one of their most powerful tools: theological term-switching.

The cultist's redefining and juggling of terms puts the cultist at an advantage because it frustrates the average Christian who can sense that something is wrong and that they're both not really saying the same thing, but the Christian can't quite put his finger on what's wrong.  And so therefore, not realizing the word-games the cultist is playing, he often falls silent for fear of ridicule or of continuing to talk in circles.

Calvinist pastors control the direction of the church by controlling not just the resources and staff, but also by controlling the definitions of words, the theological language we speak, and the way we interpret verses, such as by filling our minds first with their Calvinist definitions of "predestination, election, chosen, hardens, spiritual death, depravity, etc." and then leading us to verses that have those words in it and going, "See!  It's in the Bible, so you have to believe it."  

And this traps us because we never thought to question their definitions or to double-check the verses in context, never suspecting that there's a different, non-Calvinist way to read it.  We trusted that what they're spoon-feeding us is accurate and biblical.  We let them slowly modify our thinking and our perspectives on God and His Word, causing us to see everything through the lens of Calvinism - until our minds have been wiped clean of the ability to read the Bible in a clear, plain, commonsense way anymore.

Calvinism's success

The vice-like grip that this unbiblical theology has on the evangelical church today is a testament to the massive powers and abilities of Satan to twist Scripture and to hypnotize, manipulate, and sway multitudes of good, well-meaning, God-loving people into bad theology - an anti-gospel theology - using God's Word against God and our desire to be humble and God-honoring against us.  It's incredible!  [And yes, true Christians can fall for a false gospel.  That's what Galatians 3 is about.  For more, see my post "Calvinism: False Gospel or True (but warped) Gospel?"]    

There's a quote from Calvinist Charles Spurgeon that I actually think is very insightful: "Discernment is not knowing the difference between right and wrong.  It is knowing the difference between right and almost right."  

I agree with him on that.  But I would update it in relation to Calvinism this way: "Spiritual discernment is not knowing the difference between right and wrong.  It is knowing the difference between right and wrong-disguised-as-right."  

It's easy to spot the difference between (and errors of), say, witchcraft compared to Christianity.  Or Buddhism compared to Christianity.  Or the New Age compared to Christianity.  That's obvious.  

But to spot the errors of a theology that uses all the same biblical words and ideas and verses but in a subtly twisted, reversed, out-of-context, or misapplied way - a theology that calls itself "biblical Christianity" and "right from Scripture" and "the true gospel" and "the high view of God/Scripture" and "what humble Christians believe," etc. - now that's real discernment.

Calvinism's success lies in its remarkable abilities to make us feel like Calvinists have reached a special level of knowledge and humility that most Christians haven't reached.  It lulls us into such trust of them as theological experts that we don't even realize we should question what we're being taught or double-check it against Scripture.  And while we trust them and gobble up their special knowledge, they're stealthily putting Calvinist glasses on us, training us to read the Bible in a Calvinist way, without us even knowing it happened.  

[And if we do start to feel something is wrong or to question them, Calvinists resort to accusations of us being unhumble, questioning God, and rejecting Scripture, telling us that good, humble Christians simply accept what they can't understand - "mysteries" - no matter how terrible or contradictory it sounds.

But as I've said before, I don't think most Calvinists are trying to be manipulative and deceptive and spreading lies on purpose, for the sake of being manipulative and deceptive and spreading lies.  They truly believe this stuff themselves, that it's "the truth," and they think they're being good, obedient, God-honoring Christians to spread it.  

And that's what makes it so believable, so effective, so insidious!  Because they're not bad people trying to deceptively spread what they know is a lie (which would alarm us much more easily and makes us resist it), but they are good people trying to spread what they believe is the gospel truth (which lulls us into trusting them, letting ourselves be convinced that it's the truth, a "high level" of truth).  And that's what makes Calvinism so convincing, so successful, so dangerous, so hard to fight.]

In C.S. Lewis's The Screwtape Letters, chapter 24, the demon Screwtape advises his nephew - a junior demon in charge of corrupting a Christian man - to make the man feel like he is part of a special, elite version of Christians, a Christian unlike others and better than others (my wording).  

And Screwtape says that some Christian theories can be used to do this: "What you want is to keep a sly self-congratulation mixing with all his thoughts and never allow him to raise the question 'What, precisely, am I congratulating myself  about?'  The idea of belonging to an inner ring, of being in a secret, is very sweet to him.  Play on that nerve... Some theories which he may meet in modern Christian circles may here prove helpful: theories, I mean, that place the hope of society in some inner ring of 'clerks,' some trained minority of theocrats... the great thing is to make Christianity a mystery religion in which he feels himself one of the initiates." 

Doesn't this sound just like Calvinism, with Calvinists believing that they've got some sort of hidden wisdom that others must come to them to get?  Making you feel like you're in the upper elite crowd of spiritual geniuses?  I mean, heck, they even call their theologians "giants of the faith" and other things like that.

But C.S. Lewis says it's a trap.  And I would say that the fact that, in Calvinism, the average person cannot - without a Calvinist's help - understand Scripture (what God supposedly meant to say, according to Calvinists, that "deeper" hidden level of so-called truth) - should be very revealing and very alarming!  A great indication that it's not biblical, but a cultish heresy that only looks and sounds biblical.

Calvinists have any number of tools to manipulate us into Calvinism - such as flattery, shaming, "it's a mystery," gaslighting, false dichotomies, and even accusing those of us who disagree with them and who research/examine their teachings for ourselves of falling into error, dishonoring God, not trusting God, putting ourselves above God, of being arrogant/prideful, and of possibly not even being a Christian at all.  [In fact, this whole 9Marks article - "Calvinist Pastors and Non-Calvinist Churches: Candidating, Pastoring, and Moving On" - is about shaming and criticizing Christians for researching Calvinism on the internet for ourselves, claiming that we are only anti-Calvinists because we put our trust in ourselves and in online strangers, "internet hotheads".]   

[Do you want to see how easy it is to manipulate people into something they don't understand and don't even want to be a part of?  Watch the social experiment in the eye doctor's office near the end of this video: Let us introduce ourselves... (Start at 47:55.  But the whole video is totally worth watching!)  It had me giggling for days.]

Examples:

#1: John Piper ("Pastoral Thoughts on the Doctrine of Election")"... [the doctrine of election] is one of the best ways to test whether we have reversed roles with God.  [The doctrine of election] is a timeless problem, but especially in the modern world that assumes human autonomy and questions all authority and takes the judgment seat to decide if God even exists... 'But who are you, O man, to answer back to God?'... The doctrine of election is one very effective test of whether you are being delivered from the indigenous ocean of arrogance in the modern world, or are still drenched to the bone." 

#2: From a Calvinist post called "Paradox Files, Vol. 18", about accepting the "mysteries" we can't understand: [Quoting C. Michael Patton] "To the Calvinist, man is fully responsible for his choice, yet God's election is unconditional.  This creates a problem.  It creates great tension.  For the Calvinist, this tension cannot, and should not, be solved... We have no answer.  We get off our stool and punt to apophatic theology.  The tension is left intact.  We place our hand over our mouth here and say, 'Though we have no answers to why God did not choose people he truly loves, we will trust him without judgment.'"  [Sounds pretty humble, right?  But the depth of error, manipulation, and self-deception here is amazing!]

And the Calvinist author of the article responds in support of Patton: "There is no need to solve all tensions... [There are things] beyond our ability to comprehend... The issue of human freedom and unconditional election is in the same apophatic domain. We can’t make sense out of them and once we do, we have entered into error.  [So trying to make sense out of a confusing and contradictory theological teaching that someone teaches us is entering error!?!  Wow, do you realize the implications of something like this when it comes to biblical truth!]  There are many things God reveals that confuse us and baffle our thinking.  They seem irrational.  Yet we find God saying 'Chill.  Just trust me.  I've got this under control.  While I have revealed a lot and I know you have a lot of questions, this is a test of trust.  I love everyone but I did not elect everyone.  Put that in your pipe and smoke it.  Will you trust me or will you redefine things?'"  [So to accept what Calvinism teaches without question or pushback is "trusting God"!?!😕😖]

#3: From Crossway's Calvinist article "Straight Talk About Predestination": "How can we reconcile God’s sovereignty with the dignity of human choice?... Answer #1: God has the right to do as he wills... These verses sound harsh to modern ears tuned to talk of personal freedom.  We live in a 'Do your own thing' era in which the highest human value is to seek your own happiness....  Against all such me-centered thinking stands Paul’s unanswered question, 'But who are you, O man, to talk back to God?'  There is no answer because the question answers itself: No one can talk back to God." [Translation: "Questioning us is questioning God, so shut up and accept whatever we teach."]

#4: J.I. Packer ("Divine Sovereignty and Human Responsibility"): "The root cause [of why some Christians reject the Calvinist "doctrine of sovereignty"] is the same as in most cases of error in the Church⎯ the intruding of rationalistic speculations, the passion for systematic consistency, a reluctance to recognize the existence of mystery and to let God be wiser than men, and a consequent subjecting of Scripture to the supposed demands of human logic.  People see that the Bible teaches man’s responsibility for his actions; they do not see (man, indeed, cannot see) how this is consistent with the sovereign Lordship of God over those actions.  [We can't see it because their definition of sovereignty is not taught in Scripture!  So, contrary to Calvinists accusations against us, it's not God's sovereignty we have a problem with, but it's the Calvinist's unbiblical view of sovereignty that we have a problem with.]  They are not content to let the two truths live side by side... The desire to over-simplify the Bible by cutting out the mysteries is natural to our perverse minds [Hear the insult against those who disagree with them?  "Perverse minds who cut out parts of the Bible!"], and it is not surprising that even good men should fall victim to it.  Hence this persistent and troublesome dispute..."

And what's Packer's solution to the contradiction (or as he calls it, the "antinomy": a contradiction that only seems to be a contradiction but that's actually reasonable, even if we can't see it) between God's sovereignty over sin, evil, and unbelief (as Calvinist's define sovereignty) and yet God then holding mankind responsible for their sin, evil, and unbelief?

"What should one do, then, with an antinomy?... Accept it for what it is, and learn to live with it.  Refuse to regard the apparent inconsistency as real ["Refuse to regard the apparent inconsistency as real" is totally the textbook definition of gaslighting, basically "ignore what you see and what you know to be true, and simply accept what we tell you to the contrary anyway."]; put down the semblance of contradiction to the deficiency of your own understanding ["if you struggle with our teachings, you are the problem, not us and our theology"]; think of the two principles as, not rival alternatives, but, in some way that at present you do not grasp, complementary to each other ["you know these are rivals, but think of them as complementary anyway, even if you don't believe it"]... To our finite minds, of course, the thing is inexplicable.  It sounds like a contradiction, and our first reaction is to complain that it is absurd... [But] observe how Paul replies... he rebukes the spirit of the question. 'Nay but, O man, who art thou that repliest against God?’... Creatures are not entitled to register complaints about their Creator."  

[Just wondering, but how "inexplicable," contradictory, unresolvable, and terrible-sounding does something have to be before we reject it as a lie?  If Calvinists can get us to accept the idea that it's okay for God to predestine/cause sin and evil but to punish us for it, then what terrible teachings can't they get us to accept?  How much more damage can they do to God's character and Word while still getting us to accept it?  And notice how Calvinists are literally flaunting and admitting their gaslighting and manipulative tactics, and yet we simply smile and go "Oh, okay, I trust you," so eager to reach their level of supposed spiritual maturity, wisdom, and humility.😕😖] 

#5: A.W. Pink (Doctrine of Election): "Rebels against the supreme sovereign hesitate not to charge Him with unrighteousness because He is pleased to exercise His own rights, and determine the destiny of His creatures. They argue that all men should be dealt with on the same footing, that all should be given an equal opportunity of salvation. They say that if God shows mercy unto one and withholds it from another, such partiality is grossly unfair. To such an objector we reply in the language of Holy Writ: 'Nay but, O man, who art thou that repliest against God? Shall the thing formed say to him that formed it, Why hast thou made me thus? Hath not the potter power over the clay of the same lump, to make one vessel unto honour, and another unto dishonour?'... And there we leave him."  

[So we're "rebels against God" if we disagree with or question Calvinism... and Calvinists owe us no answers to our objections because "God can do whatever He wants."😕  

Reddit commenter "Pumpkinpie666" was correct (in the reddit post "Calvinism is disgusting"): "The Calvinist answer to every question about injustice is 'f*ck you, he's god.'  It's just 'might makes right'.  It's a pretty convenient theology for its adherents when you think about it.  They don't have to defend any absurdities or injustices dealt out by God in that paradigm because by definition he's God, so he's right and you can go f*ck yourself."  

And so was this commenter from the same post: "As an ex-Christian who used to be a Calvinist, what alarmed me is that all the fears about satan applied to god... [Calvinists] ascribed so many characteristics to god that could be applied to satan that made them seem indistinguishable."  

Scary!  And what's scarier is that Calvinists can't see it, can't see that they're doing Satan's work for him, destroying God's character, Truth, the gospel, and people's eternities.  Oh how good Satan is at his job of deception to get good, well-meaning, God-loving Christians to spread a theology like Calvinism, and convincing them that it's humble and God-honoring to do so!😧😟😖]

And finally, #6: My ex-pastor, July 2018: "The Bible teaches that God sovereignly chooses some and not others... The first question when it comes to Bible study is not 'Do I like this?'... The first question is "WHAT DOES THE TEXT SAY?"  If this is not your first question, your first burden, there is concern if you really know Christ as Lord and if you honor Him.  If all you accept is the stuff you like and what is convenient for you and emotionally comfortable for you, then there is a real question whether you know Christ, if His Spirit lives in you. [Notice how he's basically saying that if you reject his view of predestination, you're probably not even a Christian.]

... The creation has no right to question the Creator's ways... You have no right - I have no right - to call God unjust.  How dare I!  How dare you!... [God says] 'I will have mercy on whom I have mercy; I will have compassion on whom I have compassion.'  By the way, that's God's prerogative.... God hardens whom He wants to harden and has mercy on whom He wants to have mercy... Who are you, adult [here we go again!]; who are you, teenager; who are you, kid; who are you, a mere human being, to talk back to God?... Just because you don't understand a doctrine is no excuse to speak ill of God or to take a clear teaching in the Bible and mangle it to say something I'm emotionally comfortable with."  [Translation: "If you have a problem with what I'm teaching, the problem is you, not my teaching.  And if you hold any other view than my view, you've mangled Scripture." ]

Remarkably cult-like!  And it's how Calvinism spreads and succeeds as well as it has.  Freakin' incredible!

[The posts in this series will be added to the "Alana L." label as they get published.]