Calvinism is a wicked false doctrine that was started by a man named John Calvin in the 1500s, which is a total corruption of the true gospel of Jesus Christ. This false doctrine has crept into many baptist churches in our day. It teaches basically that God chooses certain people to be saved and go to heaven and he chooses other people to be damned and go to hell, that it is all according to God's choice and there is nothing man can do about it. Their key code words they like to say are "God is sovereign," or "the sovereign grace of God", meaning he is in control of everything, even in controlling who gets saved and who doesn't. But that is totally untrue because if it were God's choice everybody would be saved, but he gives man a free will to choose whether or not to accept Christ or not accept him. In the following verses it shows that he would like all men to be saved.
I Timothy 2:4: Who will have all men to be saved, and to come unto the knowledge of the truth.
The word sovereign is not mentioned in the bible even one time, but that is what Calvinists like to say all the time. In reality, God has done everything he could do to keep people out of hell by giving his only begotten son to die on the cross and rise again, but it is up to man to either accept or reject the free gift of salvation that God offers. God will not force anyone to accept it because man has a free will. That is why the bible says "whosoever" may be saved. Whosoever means anybody can be saved. John 3:16: For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.
Revelation 22:17: And the Spirit and the bride say, Come, And let him that heareth say, Come, And let him that is athirst come, And Whosoever will, let him take the water of life freely.
If you ask any child what whosoever means, they would say that it means "anybody." It is as plain as day from scripture that anybody can be saved, whoever wants to.
The bible is clear that Jesus did die for everyone in the following verses.
I John 2:2: And he is the propitiation for our wins: and not for ours only, but also for the sins of the whole world.
Hebrews 2:9: But we see Jesus, who was made a little lower than the angels for the suffering of death, crowned with glory and honour; that he by the grace of God should taste death for every man.
Even in the old testament God tells people to choose because it is always up to man to choose.
Deuteronomy 30:19: I call heaven and earth to record this day against you, that I have set before you life and death, blessing and cursing: therefore choose life, that both thou and thy seed may live:
You see God has already done his part in providing a savior for us, but it is up to man to choose Jesus as savior or not choose him. The two necessary parts to salvation are 1) Man's part is faith, and 2) God's part is grace.)
Ephesians 2:8: For by grace are ye saved through faith.
The Calvinists have an outline of five points for their belief system that is called TULIP.
T is for total depravity of man, U is unconditional election, L is limited atonement, I is irresistible grace, and P is perseverance of the saints. These listed below explain this false teaching.
T - Total depravity of man. This is the teaching that man is so bad and so depraved, meaning morally corrupt and wicked, that he cannot get saved by his own choice, but that God has to provide the faith for him, but only to certain people that he chooses. But over and over in the bible Jesus says to people "thy faith hath saved thee". A couple examples are:
Luke 7:50: And he said to the woman, Thy faith hath saved thee; go in peace.
Luke 18:42: And Jesus said unto him, Receive thy sight: thy faith hath saved thee.
It is our faith that saves us. God doesn't force us to have faith or it wouldn't even be faith.
U - Unconditional grace. This false teaching says that if God chooses you to be saved, you don't have to do anything, that God just does it all, but this is untrue because there is something you have to do to be saved and that is found in Acts 16:30-31: And brought them out, and said, Sirs, what must I do to be saved: 31: And they said, Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved, and thy house.
So there is something you need to do to be saved, you have to believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, put your faith in him to give you the gift of eternal life.
L - Limited atonement. The teaching that Jesus didn't die for everyone, but only for the people that he chooses. I already mentioned above the verses that show that Jesus did die for everyone.
I - Irresistible grace. They say that God draws you so much with his drawing power, that you cannot resist, but only to certain people. John 12:32: And I, if I be lifted up from the earth, will draw all men unto me. So by the word of God and the gospel, Jesus is drawing all men to him, but only those who believe on him will be saved.
P - Perseverance of the saints. The teaching that people who are really saved will persevere to the end, meaning they will keep walking on the straight and narrow way til the end. But the truth is that God is hanging onto us and we cannot ever be lost. Even if we backslide or wander off into sinful practices, we will still be saved. If you have to keep doing good things to keep your salvation, then that is the same thing as having to do works to get saved. Salvation is not by works, but by faith. John 10:28: And I give unto them eternal life; and they shall never perish, neither shall any man pluck them out of my hand.
Calvinism is clearly a wicked and dangerous doctrine because it is damning souls to hell. People will not go soul winning because they think if a person is chosen by God they will get saved no matter what they do, but the great commission is to go into all the world and preach the gospel to everyone. This is God's plan to get people saved.
Mark 16:15: And he said unto them, Go ye into all the world, and preach the gospel to every creature.
Also in the book of Acts it says the disciples went from house to house preaching the gospel and getting people saved.
Acts 5:42: And daily in the temple, and in every house, they ceased not to teach and preach Jesus Christ.
It is just like what the missionary that preached at church last week said about some people who went door to door soul winning and evangelizing and 200 people got saved. They were obeying the great commission, and that is what God wants us to do.
On the other hand, Calvinists do not go soul winning, but instead they like to sit in their plush fancy offices supposedly studying the deep things in the bible, while letting the world go to hell. They have all these titles such as Dr. of divinity, or Master of divinity, etc., while they have no concerns about the souls of people and where they are going to go when they die. These are the preachers who go to seminary (cemetery) and think they are very smart and some kind of great theologian. They use big words to make themselves look intelligent. When they preach, they go down deep, stay down long, and come up dry. These are not the kind of people God uses. In the first place the bible says God uses the weak things.
I Corinthians 1:26: For ye see your calling, brethren, how that not many wise men after the flesh, not many mighty, not many noble, are called:
27: But God hath chosen the foolish things of the world to confound the wise; and God hath chosen the weak things of the world to confound the things which are mighty:
28: And base things of the world, and things which are despised, hath God chosen, yea, and things which are not, to bring to nought things that are.
In the second place God uses people that will go and be laborers in the harvest fields.
John 4:35: Say not ye, There are yet four months, and then cometh harvest? behold, I say unto you, Lift up your eyes, and look on the fields; for they are white already to harvest.
Matthew 9:38: Pray ye therefore the Lord of the harvest, that he will send forth labourers into the harvest.
The reason for praying for laborers is because people will not get saved unless they hear the gospel from a Christian soul winner witnessing to them.
Romans 10:13: For whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved.
14: How then shall they call on him in whom they have not believed? and how shall they believe in him of whom they have not heard? and how shall they hear without a preacher?
15: And how shall they preach, except they be sent? as it is written, How beautiful are the feet of them that preach the gospel of peace, and bring glad tidings of good things!
Are you getting the picture of "going" and being "sent," to preach the gospel to lost souls so they can choose whether or not to accept the free gift of salvation or reject it. It doesn't say go many years to a seminary and get a lot of degrees and then go sit in an office somewhere making people think they need you to understand the bible. Any saved person can understand the bible on their own because the Holy Spirit teaches it to us.
John 14:26: But the Comforter, which is the Holy Ghost, whom the Father will send in my name, he shall teach you all things, and bring all things to your remembrance, whatsoever I have said unto you.
The best way to understand the bible is to just read the bible a lot, you don't need to be a great theologian. Of course it is right to go to church and listen to sermons and learn a lot of good things that way, because God commands us to go to church and pastors are called to feed the flock. Hebrews 10:25: Not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together, as the manner of some is; but exhorting one another: and so much the more, as ye see the day approaching.
Acts 20:28: Take heed therefore unto yourselves, and to all the flock, over the which the Holy Ghost hath made you overseers, to feed the church of God, which he hath purchased with his own blood.
But the point is that we can read the bible by ourselves and understand it.
Calvinism is a doctrine people like to use to justify their laziness because they don't want to do the labor and work to get people saved. So instead they say whoever is going to get saved will get saved no matter what we do, which is totally contrary to the great commission of going and being sent.
Another thing about it is that Calvinists do not have a burden for souls. I remember years ago when my dad was on his deathbed with cancer, and I was so burdened for his soul because I didn't want him to go to hell, that I wept and begged and pleaded with God to save him. God did answer my prayer and saved him before it was too late. If I was a Calvinist, I would have just said whatever will be will be. No, that is not Christianity, that is hardheartedness and a lack of compassion. And I have heard many testimonies of people who got saved because someone was burdened and prayed hard for them.
So sadly, many independent fundamental baptist churches in these days are apostatizing and leaning more and more in the direction of this false doctrine. They have scaled back on door to door soul winning or even done away with it altogether. The baptist church that I went to when I first got saved, Columbiaville Baptist Church, had door to door soul winning and now they have done away with it. Faith Baptist Church of Davison is another example of a church that used to go soul winning, but not anymore. They are also a big fan of John MacArthur, who is a Calvinist, which would explain why they don't do soul winning anymore. John MacArthur does not go soul winning. A lot of churches have what they call "visitation," which is not the same thing as soul winning. They may visit people and invite them to church or visit people who have come to church, but they still do not give them the gospel, like the bible tells us to do. People do not get saved by going to church, they have to hear the gospel, that's the only way. Visitation is absolutely worthless; it doesn't get anyone saved period. Another thing they do to substitute for soul winning is having a wild game dinner, which is another absolutely unbiblical method. God says "go", and give them the gospel, not invite them to a special dinner.
The good news is that there is a movement going on in America right now called the new IFB (Independent Fundamental Baptist) movement that is getting back to what the old IFB churches used to be in regards to soul winning and spreading the gospel. These churches are being started by young men of God and are popping up all over the country. They are actually sending out hundreds of soul winners every single week and getting hundreds of thousands of people saved. These pastors are training other men in their church to be pastors and sending them out to start churches, so it just keeps growing and growing. God is doing a great work. Also, many pastors from the old IFB are catching the vision and getting on fire for the Lord too.
I hope you understand this bible lesson. My prayer for you is that you will get the vision and go out to the ripe harvest field and wins souls to Christ.
Matthew 9:36: But when he saw the multitudes, he was moved with compassion on them, because they fainted, and were scattered abroad, as sheep having no shepherd.
37: Then saith he unto his disciples, The harvest truly is plenteous, but the labourers are few;
38: Pray ye therefore the Lord of the harvest, that he will send forth labourers into his harvest.
The bible is clear that Jesus did die for everyone in the following verses.
I John 2:2: And he is the propitiation for our wins: and not for ours only, but also for the sins of the whole world.
Hebrews 2:9: But we see Jesus, who was made a little lower than the angels for the suffering of death, crowned with glory and honour; that he by the grace of God should taste death for every man.
Even in the old testament God tells people to choose because it is always up to man to choose.
Deuteronomy 30:19: I call heaven and earth to record this day against you, that I have set before you life and death, blessing and cursing: therefore choose life, that both thou and thy seed may live:
You see God has already done his part in providing a savior for us, but it is up to man to choose Jesus as savior or not choose him. The two necessary parts to salvation are 1) Man's part is faith, and 2) God's part is grace.)
Ephesians 2:8: For by grace are ye saved through faith.
The Calvinists have an outline of five points for their belief system that is called TULIP.
T is for total depravity of man, U is unconditional election, L is limited atonement, I is irresistible grace, and P is perseverance of the saints. These listed below explain this false teaching.
T - Total depravity of man. This is the teaching that man is so bad and so depraved, meaning morally corrupt and wicked, that he cannot get saved by his own choice, but that God has to provide the faith for him, but only to certain people that he chooses. But over and over in the bible Jesus says to people "thy faith hath saved thee". A couple examples are:
Luke 7:50: And he said to the woman, Thy faith hath saved thee; go in peace.
Luke 18:42: And Jesus said unto him, Receive thy sight: thy faith hath saved thee.
It is our faith that saves us. God doesn't force us to have faith or it wouldn't even be faith.
U - Unconditional grace. This false teaching says that if God chooses you to be saved, you don't have to do anything, that God just does it all, but this is untrue because there is something you have to do to be saved and that is found in Acts 16:30-31: And brought them out, and said, Sirs, what must I do to be saved: 31: And they said, Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved, and thy house.
So there is something you need to do to be saved, you have to believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, put your faith in him to give you the gift of eternal life.
L - Limited atonement. The teaching that Jesus didn't die for everyone, but only for the people that he chooses. I already mentioned above the verses that show that Jesus did die for everyone.
I - Irresistible grace. They say that God draws you so much with his drawing power, that you cannot resist, but only to certain people. John 12:32: And I, if I be lifted up from the earth, will draw all men unto me. So by the word of God and the gospel, Jesus is drawing all men to him, but only those who believe on him will be saved.
P - Perseverance of the saints. The teaching that people who are really saved will persevere to the end, meaning they will keep walking on the straight and narrow way til the end. But the truth is that God is hanging onto us and we cannot ever be lost. Even if we backslide or wander off into sinful practices, we will still be saved. If you have to keep doing good things to keep your salvation, then that is the same thing as having to do works to get saved. Salvation is not by works, but by faith. John 10:28: And I give unto them eternal life; and they shall never perish, neither shall any man pluck them out of my hand.
Calvinism is clearly a wicked and dangerous doctrine because it is damning souls to hell. People will not go soul winning because they think if a person is chosen by God they will get saved no matter what they do, but the great commission is to go into all the world and preach the gospel to everyone. This is God's plan to get people saved.
Mark 16:15: And he said unto them, Go ye into all the world, and preach the gospel to every creature.
Also in the book of Acts it says the disciples went from house to house preaching the gospel and getting people saved.
Acts 5:42: And daily in the temple, and in every house, they ceased not to teach and preach Jesus Christ.
It is just like what the missionary that preached at church last week said about some people who went door to door soul winning and evangelizing and 200 people got saved. They were obeying the great commission, and that is what God wants us to do.
On the other hand, Calvinists do not go soul winning, but instead they like to sit in their plush fancy offices supposedly studying the deep things in the bible, while letting the world go to hell. They have all these titles such as Dr. of divinity, or Master of divinity, etc., while they have no concerns about the souls of people and where they are going to go when they die. These are the preachers who go to seminary (cemetery) and think they are very smart and some kind of great theologian. They use big words to make themselves look intelligent. When they preach, they go down deep, stay down long, and come up dry. These are not the kind of people God uses. In the first place the bible says God uses the weak things.
I Corinthians 1:26: For ye see your calling, brethren, how that not many wise men after the flesh, not many mighty, not many noble, are called:
27: But God hath chosen the foolish things of the world to confound the wise; and God hath chosen the weak things of the world to confound the things which are mighty:
28: And base things of the world, and things which are despised, hath God chosen, yea, and things which are not, to bring to nought things that are.
In the second place God uses people that will go and be laborers in the harvest fields.
John 4:35: Say not ye, There are yet four months, and then cometh harvest? behold, I say unto you, Lift up your eyes, and look on the fields; for they are white already to harvest.
Matthew 9:38: Pray ye therefore the Lord of the harvest, that he will send forth labourers into the harvest.
The reason for praying for laborers is because people will not get saved unless they hear the gospel from a Christian soul winner witnessing to them.
Romans 10:13: For whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved.
14: How then shall they call on him in whom they have not believed? and how shall they believe in him of whom they have not heard? and how shall they hear without a preacher?
15: And how shall they preach, except they be sent? as it is written, How beautiful are the feet of them that preach the gospel of peace, and bring glad tidings of good things!
Are you getting the picture of "going" and being "sent," to preach the gospel to lost souls so they can choose whether or not to accept the free gift of salvation or reject it. It doesn't say go many years to a seminary and get a lot of degrees and then go sit in an office somewhere making people think they need you to understand the bible. Any saved person can understand the bible on their own because the Holy Spirit teaches it to us.
John 14:26: But the Comforter, which is the Holy Ghost, whom the Father will send in my name, he shall teach you all things, and bring all things to your remembrance, whatsoever I have said unto you.
The best way to understand the bible is to just read the bible a lot, you don't need to be a great theologian. Of course it is right to go to church and listen to sermons and learn a lot of good things that way, because God commands us to go to church and pastors are called to feed the flock. Hebrews 10:25: Not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together, as the manner of some is; but exhorting one another: and so much the more, as ye see the day approaching.
Acts 20:28: Take heed therefore unto yourselves, and to all the flock, over the which the Holy Ghost hath made you overseers, to feed the church of God, which he hath purchased with his own blood.
But the point is that we can read the bible by ourselves and understand it.
Calvinism is a doctrine people like to use to justify their laziness because they don't want to do the labor and work to get people saved. So instead they say whoever is going to get saved will get saved no matter what we do, which is totally contrary to the great commission of going and being sent.
Another thing about it is that Calvinists do not have a burden for souls. I remember years ago when my dad was on his deathbed with cancer, and I was so burdened for his soul because I didn't want him to go to hell, that I wept and begged and pleaded with God to save him. God did answer my prayer and saved him before it was too late. If I was a Calvinist, I would have just said whatever will be will be. No, that is not Christianity, that is hardheartedness and a lack of compassion. And I have heard many testimonies of people who got saved because someone was burdened and prayed hard for them.
So sadly, many independent fundamental baptist churches in these days are apostatizing and leaning more and more in the direction of this false doctrine. They have scaled back on door to door soul winning or even done away with it altogether. The baptist church that I went to when I first got saved, Columbiaville Baptist Church, had door to door soul winning and now they have done away with it. Faith Baptist Church of Davison is another example of a church that used to go soul winning, but not anymore. They are also a big fan of John MacArthur, who is a Calvinist, which would explain why they don't do soul winning anymore. John MacArthur does not go soul winning. A lot of churches have what they call "visitation," which is not the same thing as soul winning. They may visit people and invite them to church or visit people who have come to church, but they still do not give them the gospel, like the bible tells us to do. People do not get saved by going to church, they have to hear the gospel, that's the only way. Visitation is absolutely worthless; it doesn't get anyone saved period. Another thing they do to substitute for soul winning is having a wild game dinner, which is another absolutely unbiblical method. God says "go", and give them the gospel, not invite them to a special dinner.
The good news is that there is a movement going on in America right now called the new IFB (Independent Fundamental Baptist) movement that is getting back to what the old IFB churches used to be in regards to soul winning and spreading the gospel. These churches are being started by young men of God and are popping up all over the country. They are actually sending out hundreds of soul winners every single week and getting hundreds of thousands of people saved. These pastors are training other men in their church to be pastors and sending them out to start churches, so it just keeps growing and growing. God is doing a great work. Also, many pastors from the old IFB are catching the vision and getting on fire for the Lord too.
I hope you understand this bible lesson. My prayer for you is that you will get the vision and go out to the ripe harvest field and wins souls to Christ.
37: Then saith he unto his disciples, The harvest truly is plenteous, but the labourers are few;
38: Pray ye therefore the Lord of the harvest, that he will send forth labourers into his harvest.
