This is a necessary expose of the insidious heresies of Reformed Calvinism’s TULIP, in light of such churches and pastors receiving positive limelight over the span of the covid plandemic, especially here in Alberta. If the gospel, doctrine, practice and life (obedience to Scripture) don’t align with Scripture, “there is no light in them” Scripture says (Is 8:20). The fact they are Calvinists and reformed in theology, and promote a perverted gospel (Gal 1:6-8; 2 Cor 11:4), coupled with the golden calf worship of strange fire and raucous music, i.e. “Christian” Contemporary Music (CCM) (1 Jn 2:15-17; Jam 4:4; cf. Jn 4:23-24), and hateful malice for the King James Bible, the only true Bible in the English language, is really all the evidence one needs to know they’re not of the truth but greatly deceived.
Their love for the spotlight enhances that perspective. When Saul of Tarsus was dramatically converted, as all conversions are, he left the spotlight. The humility and lowly life associated with the true Spirit-led Christian life is not being a tweet on twitter tweeting [t]witty tweets even from other twits (That’s almost a tongue tweester!). For to long now Protestantism and Reformed Calvinistic doctrine has been whitewashed to make it acceptable to professing Bible-believing Christians. Both must be rejected for Biblical truth, of which Reformed and their man-made system have the form but not the substance. They pull the wool over peoples eyes and attempt to make their doctrine appear Biblical when its not.
In the event you’re unaware or unsure of the TULIP gospel of Calvinism, I thought it prudent on my part to briefly share this with you, lest I be guilty of transgressing the 9th commandment in concealing the truth or holding undue silence in this just cause (Rom 16:17; Ju 1:3; Lev 5:1; Ac 5:3, 8-9; 2 Tim 4:6), or holding my peace when error calls for reproof (Pr 24:23-25; 28:23; Ti 2:15; Lev 19:17) and complaint to others (Is 59:4; Rom 16:17; 1 Cor 1:11), to preserve and promote the truth between men (Ze 8:16), to stand for the truth (Pr 31:8-9; Ju 1:3; 1 Cor 16:13; Ezk 3:17) and contend against Calvinism’s false TULIP gospel (Ju 1:3; 2 Pet 2:1; Rom 16:17).
Here is a brief dissection of the TULIP that exposes its unscriptural teachings and dangerous theology.
T: Total Depravity
Man is supposedly so depraved and dead as to have no ability to respond to the things of God or God’s conviction and thus has no choice in the matter of salvation. He will either be forced into salvation, unconditional election from the foundational of the world, or was simply never elected to be saved, unconditional reprobation. Because of mans total deadness, he doesn’t have any ability to change God’s will concerning this. Scripture corrupted to prooftext this unscriptural Calvinistic philosophy: Gen 6:5; Is 64:6-7; Jer 17:9; Rom 3:10-18; 1 Cor 2:14; Eph 2:1-3; 2 Th 2:13. Naturally, one error leads to more error, thus boom, in enters the cardinal point of reformed theology to the maxim, ‘Regeneration precedes faith,' which is where mongerism (the heretical regeneration before salvation) comes in. Regeneration must occur prior to faith, so that man can respond to the salvation God has elected him too.
James White affirms:
“The Reformed assertion is that man cannot understand and embrace the gospel nor respond in faith and repentance toward Christ without God first freeing him from sin and giving him spiritual life (regeneration).”
It follows then, as H. Hoeksema states:
“regeneration can take place in the smallest of infants . . . in the sphere of the covenant of God, He usually regenerates His elect children from infancy.”
Monergism is explained as God working through His Spirit to bring about the salvation of an individual through firstly spiritual regeneration enabling ability to respond, regardless of the individual's cooperation, since Calvinists believe man has no free will. This also is evil. Apparently man is so depraved and so totally dead and can’t respond in any fashion, as someone in a casket. Since spiritual death is total inability, then I would assume that these dead men could not suppress the truth. The way it reads in the KJV in Rom 1:18 is that these dead men "hold the truth in unrighteousness." The understanding of "hold" is that they hold the truth away from themselves in their unrighteousness. They suppress the truth. How is God's wrath justified against these unrighteous? Well, these men have suppressed the truth. Dead men know the truth. There is even an inclination toward believing it, or else how could they suppress it? And God's wrath against them is for what reason? Because God didn't choose them? Or regenerate them? If Gods grace was involved, then it was unsuppressable, right? Wrong. One understands that Gods wrath was vindicated by the fact that people who knew God, had sufficient knowledge to be saved and were thinking about the truth, suppressed it out of rebellion.
John 3:19-21 reflects this truth precisely,
“And this is the condemnation, that light is come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil. For every one that doeth evil hateth the light, neither cometh to the light, lest his deeds should be reproved. But he that doeth truth cometh to the light, that his deeds may be made manifest, that they are wrought in God.”
Supposedly you’re so dead that you can’t repent. Not true. We are able to repent because of revelation and God’s accord (Rom 2:4), which is why men are without excuse (Rom 1). Since God's Word is alive and powerful (Heb 4:12), when it interacts, it does enable us to respond. We love Him because He first loved us (1 Jn 4:19). He chooses us to salvation "through… belief of the truth" (2 Th 2:13). We know people don't reject God because of Him, but because of them, so some are enabled and illuminated by revelation, but rebel. They taste but don’t eat and drink (Heb 6:4; 2 Pet 2:20-21). When salvation is all done, we know God did it, but we also know that it could be resisted. Both are taught in the Bible.
Scripture refuting regeneration before faith: Mk. 16:16; Lk. 8:12; Jn. 3:16; 5:24; 20:31; Acts 16:31; Rom. 1:16; Eph. 2:8.
Calvinism’s Total Depravity is heresy and must be trampled.
U: Unconditional Election or Reprobation.
This is where the damnable heresy goes up a notch. The title of Unconditional Reprobation is what they should rightfully title the “U” since that is what they truly believe. According to Calvinist TULIP theology, God unconditionally and “sovereignly” elects who will be saved and who will be damned, and this election has nothing at all to do with anything the sinner does or can do, including exercising repentant faith in the gospel. It’s about God choosing some to heaven and some to hell, long before they were ever born, in fact before the foundation of the world. Damnable heresy seems to be a mild form of denunciation of such travesty. This heresy results in a form of forced faith, against the will of man.
Calvinism’s heresy on election holds to the fundamental error of John Calvin and his mentor Augustine, which is “sovereign election” (or “unconditional election”) unto life or damnation, expressed here:
“Predestination we call the decree of God, by which He has determined in Himself, what He would have to become of every individual of mankind. For they are not all created with a similar destiny: but eternal life is foreordained for some, and eternal damnation for others” (Institutes of the Christian Religion, Book III, ch. 21).
In other words, Calvin taught that God will be glorified by bringing billions of people into this world for no other purpose than having them burn in Hell for eternity.
Consider further words from Calvin on sovereign eternal damnation:
“[God] devotes to destruction whom he pleases . . . they are predestinated to eternal death without any demerit of their own, merely by his sovereign will. . . . he orders all things by his counsel and decree in such a manner, that some men are born devoted from the womb to certain death, that his name be glorified in their destruction. . . . God chooses whom he will as his children ... while he rejects and reprobates others” (ibid, ch. 23)
Just. Wow. How utterly wicked is that. I can assure anyone of one thing for sure: John Calvin did not know the true God of the Bible, nor the Bible of the true God.
Edwin Palmer states:
“He who accepts one of the points (of TULIP) will accept the other points. Unconditional election necessarily follows from total depravity.”
R.C. Sproul affirmed this teaching:
“By making election conditional upon something that man does, even if what he does is simply to repent and believe the gospel, God’s grace is seriously compromised.”
Personal election to salvation (Rom 16:13) is based upon foreknowledge (1 Pet 1:2), which is not synonymous with foreordination. The Bibles approach is foreknowledge election, not “sovereign election.” That’s what we see in two major passages on election, Rom 8:29-30 and 1 Pet 1:2. The Bible begins with God’s foreknowledge, which is not fore-will or foreordination, the Greek proginosko (verb) and prognosis (noun) in Rom 8:29 and 1 Pet 1:2, mean “to know beforehand, to foresee, forethought.” Foreknowledge election, which is the plain teaching of Scripture, allows for and encompasses all that the Bible says about human free will and choice, and that the gospel is for whosoever will.
There is no evidence in the NT or in extrabiblical Koiné that the noun foreknow (prognosis) or the verb to foreknow (proginosko) mean anything other than precognition. The Calvinist contention that the words really signify predetermine or something of the sort are arbitrary, and no such meaning for the word appears in the Liddell-Scott Greek lexicon, since in that work “theology” is not driving the meaning assigned to these words. In all the clear instances, the words simply signify precognition, and no text requires a different meaning; not in the NT (Ac 2:23; 26:5; Rom 8:29; 11:2; 1 Pet 1:2, 20; 2 Pet 3:17) nor any extraBiblical writings (e.g. LXX, Irenaeus, Justin Martyr, or Josephus).
While Jn 15:16, the syntax “ye have not chosen me, but I have chosen you,” certainly places the emphasis upon God’s choice of man, it does not require the exclusion of all activity on the part of humanity any more than Paul’s “the good that I would I do not: but the evil which I would not, that I do” (Rom 7:19) means that Paul did no good at all, or the statement that “it is not ye that speak, but the Spirit of your Father which speaketh in you” (Mt 10:20; Mk 13:11) excludes human speech entirely. Romans 9 also provides no support for Calvinism. Calvinists for the most part do not come to the Bible and let it speak for itself (exegesis) but force it to fit their own presuppositions.
By perverting election in a most self-righteous way, they claim that not all people have opportunity to be saved, but in so doing they deny the Triune God, change His character, and corrupt His Word. Every human being has opportunity to be saved: Ps 65:5; 74:12; 98:1-3; Jn 1-4; Rom 1:18-21; Ac 1:8; 1 Tim 2:3-5. Ps 98:2-3 on its own refutes this heresy:
“The Lord hath made known his salvation: his righteousness hath he openly shewed in the sight of the heathen. He hath remembered his mercy and his truth toward the house of Israel: all the ends of the earth have seen the salvation of our God.”
Ps 74:12 likewise declares,
“For God is my King of old, working salvation in the midst of the earth.”
There is very much scripture that opposes the Calvinist unconditional election and reprobation doctrine, and here are several that are ridiculously plain. Rom 5:18 declares, “Therefore as by the offence of one judgment came upon ALL men to condemnation; even so by the righteousness of one the free gift came upon ALL men unto justification of life.” Adam’s sin brought judgement and condemnation to ALL men, none exempt. But even so, Christ’s righteousness brought the free gift of salvation unto ALL men, none exempt. All men have the opportunity to be saved, “For the grace of God that bringeth salvation hath appeared to ALL men,” (Ti 2:11). I wonder what part of “ALL,” Calvinist’s have such difficulty understanding?
Lastly with “U”, I bring you to the parable of the sower in Matt 13. Why does Jesus give such a drawn out and intricate explanation for why it is that people don't truly believe and receive Him, if the simple answer is that He didn't choose them to be saved? I would be fine with that answer if it were true. I would believe God to be just in condemning whoever He wanted. Since God defines what is true and good, how could I question Him if He simply crafted people for the sole purpose of damnation? I wouldn't. But Jesus doesn't give that as an explanation. What He says is that people aren't truly saved because of their lack of reception of the seed for various reasons. Two of the reasons the seed isn’t received in a saving way (though they profess to receive it), is because they either approach it unrepentantly (rocky soil) or because they’re too interested in the world or riches (thorny ground). That's too much of an answer if God had predetermined some to salvation and others to damnation.
This point of Calvinism completely changes the character and nature of God. It turns God into a liar, since Scripture says He made hell for the devil and his angels (Matt 25:41), not for man. So man ends up in a place that was actually made for him if Calvinism is true, since God has allegedly ordained him there before the foundation of the world, which is before He ever made hell. Who would be right, God or Calvinism? Scripture also repeatedly declares that all men can be saved (2 Tim 2:5), which obviously wouldn’t be true if Calvinism was true. Scripture also says repeatedly declares that God is God, but what would a man think about God if he had no chance of ever being saved? Not only is salvation horribly perverted with the TULIP, but also the very character and nature of God.
Scriptures refuting unconditional election: 1 Th. 1:4; 2 Tim. 2:10; 2 Pet. 1:10. Scripture perverted and wrested to prooftext this heresy on election: Ezk 12:2; Mt 13:15; Ac 13:48; 28:25-27; Rom 8:29-33; 9:13-33 [favourite prooftext]; 11:2-7; 1 Cor 1:26-29; Eph 1:3-5, 11; 1 Th 1:3-5; 5:9; 2 Th 2:13; 2 Tim 1:9; Ti 1:1; 1 Pet 1:2; 2 Pet 2:12; Ju 1:4. Any Calvinist who seeks to preach the gospel to sinners is essentially only looking for the elect in practice.
Calvinism’s Unconditional Election is heresy and must be trampled.
L: Limited Atonement
Christ died allegedly only for the elect, not for everyone. There is no form of limited atonement in God’s Word. The blood of Christ isn’t usually included in Calvinism’s “atonement” either. While there is a special sense in which Christ died for “me” (Gal 2:20) for the elect (Rom 8:33) because they exercised saving faith (2 Th 2:13-14), thus for the congregation of immersed believers (Eph 5:25), Scripture plainly states that Christ died and shed His blood for all men (1 Jn 2:2; 1 Tim 2:6; 2 Pet 3:9), for the ungodly — which is everyone because all are sinners (Rom 4:5; 5:6, 8), including those who are never born again (Heb 6:4-6), even false teachers (2 Pet 2:1).
Jesus apparently doesn’t draw all men to Himself but only the elect, based upon wresting Jn 12:32, which affirms that the Lord Jesus draws “all men” to Himself, employing the same verb for drawing (helkuo helko) as Jn 6:44 employs that nobody can come to Christ without being drawn (Jn 6:44). The Calvinist contention that Jn 12:32 should be altered to affirm that Christ draws not “all men,” but “all the elect,” is purely gratuitous and manipulative. There is no exegetical or syntactical basis whatsoever for changing the “all men” of Jn 12:32 to “all the elect.”
The Calvinist argues, ‘God does not give faith to all or else all would have faith.’ He does give and offer faith to all, but not all will respond to it and act upon it. Faith comes by means of God's revelation and enlightenment, by Scripture (Rom 10:17; 1 Pe 1:23-25), some, however, suppress it out of unrighteousness and love for darkness (Rom 1:18; Jn 3:19-21). Since salvation is not by works, faith isn't a work. It is granted. But not everyone will receive it. Ultimately, if faith is a gift, it must still be received. Calvinism claims that a dead man (total depravity) can't receive it, but the grace of God, which brings salvation and has appeared to all, does allow someone to receive it (Ti 2:11).
The Word of God is powerful, so all can receive it (Heb 4:12). The conviction of the Holy Spirit allows someone to receive it. That fits with 1 Tim 4:10. Jesus is the Saviour for all. Not limited atonement, but all-inclusive and few texts present a stronger case than 1 Tim 4:10. It not only confirms unlimited atonement but perfectly illustrates redemption accomplished and redemption applied, an issue Calvinists routinely confound. Paul says, "For therefore we both labour and suffer reproach, because we trust in the living God, who is the Saviour of all men, specially of those that believe" Faith is the deciding factor and the way the verse reads is that the individual is responsible for the faith.
Faith is a gift of God indeed and its available for all. We can't be saved without faith and we can't believe except we repent and obtain faith from God (both granted by Him: Ac 5:32; 11:32; Rom 2:4; Eph 2:8-9), but there is no place in Scripture that says God gives faith to some and not to others. Scripture doesn't read that way. Anywhere. The verse itself doesn't say "especially the ones who received the gift of faith." He is the Saviour literally "of believing ones." Anyone reading that wouldn't be getting that this was because God gave them the ability to believe, but because they did believe. God’s not less sovereign when He is as sovereign as He says He is. A sovereign God does it as He wills.
Scripture Calvinists corrupt to proof text this heresy Is 53:8; Matt 1:21; 20:28; Jn 10:11; 11:49-52; Ac 20:28.
Scripture that refutes limited atonement: Jn. 1:29; 3:14-16; 7:37; Rom. 5:6; Gal. 3:22; 1 Tim. 2:4; 4:10; 2 Pet. 2:1; 1 Jn. 2:1-2, Rev. 22:17.
Calvinism’s Limited Atonement is heresy and must be trampled.
I: Irresistible Grace
God’s call apparently to the elect is effectual and cannot be resisted. The Bible teaches the very opposite: the grace of God is resistible, not irresistible (Ac 7:51; Mt 23:37; Pr 1:20-31). John Piper explains Irresistible Grace:
“There can be no salvation without the reality of irresistible grace. If we are dead in ours, totally unable to submit to God, then we will never believe in Christ unless God overcomes our rebellion.”
“Irresistible Grace” is a contradiction of terms, like "Christian Rock" music. If it is irresistible, it is not grace. In my door-to-door evangelizing experience, grace actually comes across as quite resistible. People seem to do it with ease. You would never know that when someone finally does stop resisting, it was because they couldn't help stopping. Since I'm yielding to the Spirit and preaching boldly as I ought to speak, I would wonder why the Holy Spirit signals this truth—grace is resistible—if it were not the case. Scripture backs this up. To start, look up all the usages of "will" in Scripture. Most people haven't. If they did, they would find at least two Greek words translated "will" in the NT. We know that "will" doesn't mean the same thing in every case. The Bible teaches God's sovereign will (Dan 4:35; Ps 115:3), and yet, on the other hand, a lot of times God's will doesn't get accomplished (2 Pe 3:9). Sometimes God makes something happen or allows it to happen; other times He wishes it. He has boundaries that mark His will, but whether man works within those boundaries depends on man’s will. God's saving grace appears to all men (Ti 2:11). Do they all get saved? No. That would mean what? Uh-oh.
What was Stephen thinking when he said, "Ye stiffnecked and uncircumcised in heart and ears, ye do always resist the Holy Ghost: as your fathers did, so do ye." (Ac 7:51). I guess he hadn't read the Institutes yet. I know Reformers from Geneva cry: That's not what it is!! Of course, they have a definition that makes rubics cube look like the directions for making lemonade. After you've connected all their dots with the "right" meanings of terms, and then divide by the square root of 47, grin like Mona Lisa, you will begin to get it. Hot rocks and ear flaps provide strong incentive.
ALL men hold the truth in unrighteousness (Rom 1:18-23). Wisdom cries unto all, the simple, scornful or foolish (Pr 1:20-31), the wicked (Ps 50:16-23; Is 55:6-7), those pursuing riches and wealth (Ps 49:6-20), etc. The foolish virgins had equal opportunity as the wise, but out-waited their opportunity (Mt 25:1-13). The rich ruler (Mt 19) had the exact opportunity, maybe even greater, as the rich publican Zacchaeus (Lk 19), but only one responded to God’s reproof (Ps 50:17; Pr 1:20-25; Jn 16:7-11; Rom 2:1-5) and exercised repentance (Rom 2:4; Ac 5:31; 11:18). All four soils of the soul had equal opportunity, but only one responded in repentant faith, was converted and henceforth fruitful (Matt 13).
The grace of God is definitely resistible (Ac 7:51; Mt 23:37). In Lk 13:23, because of how things were going in Jesus' ministry, someone asked Him, "Are there few that be saved?" If the Calvinistic view of total depravity, unconditional election, limited atonement, and irresistible grace were true, Jesus should say, "There are few because God chose only a few and Christ died for just a few. Men are dead and unable to respond because God is not regenerating them so they can believe." But Jesus didn't. He made it sound like few were saved because men weren't striving (agonizing) to enter the narrow gate (v 24). If He wanted men to strive, all He needed to do was to regenerate a few more to do so.
And how much actual striving is necessary when grace is irresistible. No resistance doesn't sound like striving. This is just one example among many of how what Jesus says clashes with a Calvinistic view of salvation. Ti 2:11 plainly says the grace of God appeared to all men, but then it teaches "us," (Ti 2:12), which are those who receive the grace, which is easy to see. It doesn't say, teaches "all men" to deny ungodliness, etc. "All men" (Ti 2:11) and the "us" (Ti 2:12) are clearly delineated. The clear distinction explains the doctrine. Why don’t Calvinist just accept what it says, instead of forcing “all men” to mean "the elect?"
Scripture that refutes irresistible grace: Ps 111:4; Jon 4:2; Matt 11:28; Rom 1:5; 1 Cor 1:4; Eph 2:5, 7-8.
Calvinism’s Irresistible Grace is heresy and must be trampled.
P: Perseverance of the Saints
“P” is the only petal of the TULIP that comes close to truth, yet it being intertwined with the others, each totally dependent upon one another, you pull out one petal and humpty dumpty, the whole thing collapses. The Bible teaches that all true born again believers are eternally secure and are preserved by the power of God from both hell and the domination of sin (Rom 6), so that no regenerate person ever can be eternally lost (Rom 8:28-39) and that all will live in obedience to God’s Word (Jn 14:15-24; 1 Jn 2:3-5) and persevere to the end, since true justifying faith will always evidence itself in perseverance and continual abiding in Christ (Jn 8:31-32; 15:1-6; 1 Jn 2:14-29; etc).
God never stops working in His own, them He indwells, and never leaves them to their own ways (Phil 1:6; 2:10-11), so they will persevere to the end. But that is altogether different then the Calvinism version of perseverance, which is a form of assurance, but not really. There is a fear that is attached with Calvinism’s perseverance that one can really never know for absolute certain if they are saved, for tomorrow it could all go sideways. The Calvinist lives in a continual state of fear, which, of course, is quite the opposite to the sound mind and peaceful spirit of the truly saved, “For God hath not given us the spirit of fear; but of power, and of love, and of a sound mind.” (2 Tim 1:7).
No Calvinist however can be entirely sure of his salvation since he might actually be predestined to be lost. The Calvinist baby sprinkler R.C. Sproul spoke of this in his own life and by now he knows the truth, though he could've known it while yet living. It isn’t surprising therefore that John Calvin didn’t have any assurance of salvation, thus adherence to his perseverance of the saints is essential. After all, playing little head games with people would not be wrong for Calvin’s god since Calvin’s god is glorified by creating billions of people solely for the purpose of sending them to Hell for eternity. There is not a person in the world who believes what Calvin taught who should not be terrified concerning the reality of his or her salvation.
Conclusion.
Summation of Calvinism: 'The Elect (the Church) have been predetermined before creation to soteriological election because they otherwise would be unable to repent and believe, and therefore being regenerated in infancy, they cannot resist saving grace, and will continue on in their good works, since they are the exclusive recipients of the benefit of Christ’s particular atonement.'
Heresy is a mild word to describe this blasphemy of God's character. The points of Calvinism don't glorify God, He doesn't get glorified by misrepresentations of Himself or perversions of His Gospel. The “gospel” of Calvinism and Reformed Theology is “another gospel: Which is not another; but [a] …pervert[ed] …gospel of Christ.” (Gal 1:6-9). Calvinism’s corruption of the sovereignty of God also ties into the TULIP, that essentially man is like a puppet and has no effective will and that God purposes everything that they do, which they ascertain by twisting the following Scripture: Ps 115:3; 33:11; Pr 16:9; 19:21; 21:2, 30; Jn 12:32; Is 14:27; 46:9-10; Dan 4:35; Ac 15:18; Eph 1:11.
Calvinism has become (of course only hypothetically or in a Calvinistic thought experiment) sovereign over God's sovereignty. I want actual sovereignty, not a made-up kind that poses as glorifying God more. Salvation is of the Lord. That, I have no doubt. It can't be more "of the Lord" than the Lord Himself makes it. The TULIP version of salvation is not of the Lord. I find the Bible keeps getting in the way of what Calvinists write and believe. When they lay out their system and plug the verses in, they can make them make “sense,” — if that were all you were left with, a dozen or two cherry picked verses out of the entire Bible. But that is condemned as private interpretation (2 Pet 1:16-21).
Calvinism is a system of heresy, that changes God and His Gospel. It should be rejected in all its forms.
“Now I beseech you, brethren, mark them which cause divisions and offences contrary to the doctrine which ye have learned; and avoid them. For they that are such serve not our Lord Jesus Christ, but their own belly; and by good words and fair speeches deceive the hearts of the simple.” (Rom 16:17-18).
“As also in all his epistles, speaking in them of these things; in which are some things hard to be understood, which they that are unlearned and unstable wrest, as they do also the other scriptures, unto their own destruction. Ye therefore, beloved, seeing ye know these things before, beware lest ye also, being led away with the error of the wicked, fall from your own stedfastness.” (2 Pet 3:16-17).
For further reading, see here: