New Calvinists Think it is Cool and Funny to Reject the New Birth
“You must be born again.”
~ The Lord Jesus Christ
Dear Christians: Don’t You Get It? Calvinists Think You Are Going to Hell
Yes, the gospel that SBC dimwits think they can colabor with denies the new birth in no uncertain terms. This isn’t rocket science: if the gospel that is good for the goose is also good for the gander; this assumes that no change takes place inside of the believer. And in case you haven’t read the papers lately that’s exactly what Christians are acting like.”
I think I have taken my last trip to SBC Today .com and SBC Voices .com. I have been referred over there a number of times to observe truth tone deafness on steroids. A heretic is running our flagship seminary, but the big news is that Tim Tebow cancelled his speaking engagement at FBCD. The big hero this time in the ongoing drama of SBC folklore (in our own pitiful minds) is Dr. Jeffress, who like all other SBC notables has never called out another leader for the same scandalous filth that is going on in most denominations. He will call out homosexuals, but the rape cover-ups in the SBC are a taboo subject. We call out the sins of the world, but to call out our own sin is “gossip.” All of these guys just really make me want to puke. Because they are sorry excuses for leadership—we are a joke in the eyes of the world and rightfully so.
Other articles posit the supposed strength of Calvinists and non-Calvinists working together in the SBC. So, the likes of David Platt will gladly play along while believing that synergistic sanctification is a false gospel and works salvation. This is a simple thing, Jerry Vines needs to call Al Mohler on the phone and ask him if synergistic sanctification is works salvation. I think the answer would surprise him if Mohler has a rare moment of truth telling. Of course, if Vines decides to do something about it, he then has to explain how he missed this all along and focused on symptoms rather than the issue of Calvin’s false gospel. I have been a lay pastor since 1986, and I missed it. Why? Because I was clueless, that’s why. More studied than a lot of Christians, I had a very poor understanding of justification, sanctification, and covenants, and still have a lot to learn. What’s so hard about that? Just admit it! What’s the big deal?
All of this conversation in the SBC about getting along with Calvinists could just as well include the Jehovah Witnesses or the Moonies. There is no difference; a false gospel is a false gospel and a cult is a cult. Calvinism was the epitome of a cult in Calvin’s Geneva and still is. You could slip a playing card in-between Calvin’s Geneva and Jonestown save the fact that Jonestown wanted to go out with a bang. But more to the point let’s talk about Calvin’s false gospel—the gospel that SBC yesomites say we should work together with.
In today’s church words don’t mean things because if they did we would have to do something about it. And we are mostly business as usual loving spiritual slugs. That’s what we need more than anything in the church today: leaders who take words seriously and will act accordingly. They will be easy to spot. When the sun is out during the day they will be walking around rather than sunning themselves on flat rocks like the majority. So, let’s talk about words.
“We must preach the gospel to ourselves every day.” Really? Does this raise any red flags? No. It is so, so indicative of how mindless Christians are in our day. “Wow, that sounds pretty cool. More fish anybody?” Come now, let’s be honest; do we really believe that we have been appointed stewards of God’s life-giving word? Is that how we function? A name that has come up in this ministry a lot this week is Miles McKee. He states a lot of things on his Facebook page that brings hearty kudos from many because their eyes immediately gravitate to the word, “gospel” in the sentence. “Oh there it is! The word gospel! Amen brother!” But let’s look at his statements more closely. Here is the subline of his Facebook page:
Preaching Christ crucified to the saved and lost alike. The goal is to pack this web site with rich gospel goodies.
Yes, and that is exactly what Christian children in adult bodies seek in our day, “rich gospel goodies.” Yum, yum, yum. We can’t take the word of God and help people in real trouble; we are too busy feeding on our gospel goodies. Note the picture below—that’s us. It is also how the world sees us, and rightfully so.
GOSPEL GOODIES! Yum, Yum!
But note that we are supposed to be preaching Christ crucified to Christians. This doesn’t raise any red flags. Note that the same message preached to unbelievers is also fundamental to the message Christians still need to hear daily. Still no red flags. Particularly alarming should be the idea that Christ’s crucifixion is perpetual in the Christian life. That’s what Calvin believed. He believed the atonement is perpetual. He believed Christ’s death is continually reapplied to the Christian’s life by faith alone until we reach heaven. We are then judged according to whether or not we continually appropriated Christ’s death in our life by faith alone until that day. It’s keeping our salvation by staying at the foot of the cross. We are saved by faith alone, and at any given time that we are not living our Christian life by faith alone we lose our salvation (or they say we were not really saved to begin with). That’s why we preach the same gospel to the saved as well as the unsaved.
It would therefore seem that the new birth would have to be redefined, and you would be right about that. This doctrine necessitates the denial of the new birth. Hence, McKee also states the following:
Contrary to much of today’s evangelical preaching, we must state that the message of New Birth is not the gospel.
Regardless of the fact that Christ’s own gospel presentation to Nicodemus was, “You must be born again,” this doesn’t raise any red flags either. The mindlessness truly boggles the imagination. Graeme Goldsworthy, the foremost hermeneutical authority recognized by Calvinists in our day footnoted (with full agreement) an article written by Anglican Geoffrey Paxton entitled, “The False Gospel of the New Birth.” Yes, the gospel that SBC dimwits think they can colabor with denies the new birth in no uncertain terms. This isn’t rocket science: if the gospel that is good for the goose is also good for the gander; this assumes that no change takes place inside of the believer. And in case you haven’t read the papers lately that’s exactly what Christians are acting like.
Moreover, Calvinists think the evangelical new birth gospel is works salvation: “It would be better to die a heathen than to live a religious life and die without Christ” (McKee). And trust me, synergistic sanctification is the “religious life” being spoken of here.
The Calvinist gospel, the centrality of the objective gospel outside of us, is a perfect storm of deception that perfectly facilitates the confounding of salvific terms—I get that. But yet, I see a prevailing arrogance among Christians that since we are so smart, deception will always be evident to us. We are so good at doing Christianity we don’t need practice or diligent study. Our claim that faith is pure and simple is a cloak of arrogance that covers for our bankrupt spirituality and the brunt of jokes among the heathen. If there is a God, where is His representation upon the earth? “Well, we don’t attempt to be the gospel with our own works, we only preach the gospel.” And to that the heathen say,
“Amen.”
paul
Stuart Scott of Southern Seminary is Just Another Wolf in the Pack
Integrity in pastoral ministry is caring about the one as much as the ninety-nine. It’s like the Jewish proverb: “He who saves one life saves the world.” James chastised Jewish leaders for treating a certain class of believers like they were expendable. Most leaders of our day don’t get that.
Once again, Stuart Scott, Director of “Biblical Counseling” at Southern Seminary will speak at Clearcreek Chapel’s (Springboro, Ohio) annual “Family Enrichment” Conference. Scott has been exhorted by me in the past to not lend the Chapel credibility in this way because they have never repented of a litany of unresolved conflict with many former members, some who fled the state of Ohio to get their families as far away from the Chapel as possible. The elders there are also on record in regard to preaching outrageous, cultish concepts.
Indifference to justice and spiritual abuse in the church is part and parcel with being a visible leader in our church culture today. The abused are expendable and underfoot. And unlike Hollywood where a few stars admit that they are Republicans, the spiritual rock stars of our day share no such intestinal fortitude, not even for what is right. Scott’s indifference is just another example among many. Whether Grace Community Church and their seminary in California, or his present tenure at Southern, Scott runs with the best of the wolf packs.
His former boss, John MacArthur, and his present boss, Al Mohler, both endorse /fellowship with CJ Mahaney. Regardless of being entangled in a lawsuit concerning various abuses by Mahaney’s ministry (SGM) including sexual abuse cover-ups, Mahaney will be a featured speaker at the next Together For The Gospel conference (T4G). Mohler, Mark Dever, Ligon Duncan, and CJ Mahaney are the “core four “ of these bi-annual conferences. Mohler, Dever, and Duncan continue to be staunch defenders of Mahaney. At the very least, Mahaney has never confessed his blackmailing of SGM’s co-founder in an effort to prevent him from leaving SGM for doctrinal reasons. Said co-founder tape recorded the attempted blackmail which involved counseling issues being made public. The transcript of the attempted blackmail has been made public.
Mahaney will also be a featured speaker at this year’s TGC conference (the bi-annual compliment of T4G) in April along with Al Mohler and the who’s who of the New Calvinist wolf pack. This conference includes many Emergent church speakers as well as the rankest of mystic heretics such as Tim Keller who propagates New Age spiritual contemplationism in broad daylight.
These people have zero pastoral integrity and absolutely no love for the truth. Scott, who undoubtedly lusts constantly to be a part of the bigger show, must settle for the smaller stages among the spiritual despots of our day; i.e., Clearcreek Chapel.
And that he will do. That is who he is. He is just another wolf in the pack.
paul
John MacArthur and Al Mohler: Their Hearts are Revealed by Their Endorsement of CJ Mahaney
“MacArthur’s hypocrisy is sickening. While calling Osteen demon possessed for propagating positive visualization, he himself propagates gospel contemplationism via Mahaney’s Reformed assertion that gospel manifestations occur as a result of contemplating the five-word gospel: ‘Christ died for our sins’ and looking for it in every verse of the Bible. MacArthur has bought into this Reformed mysticism lock, stock, and barrel.”
John MacArthur looks good and sounds good. I was never that impressed with Al Mohler, but was a rabid follower of John MacArthur for years. My present and merited complete disrespect for MacArthur was a long, slow, and painful process.
Sorting out truth can often be a laborious affair, and Bible authors promised us that false teachers are able to present themselves as angels of light. In other words, they will not be wearing cheap costumes. So, Jesus gave us a really easy way to know who the false teachers are: “By their fruits you will know them.”
Regardless of what the Bible plainly states in regard to the qualifications of elders, John MacArthur, while spending time fustigating Joel Osteen, has consistently endorsed CJ Mahaney by appearing with him at several conferences and inviting him to conferences directly hosted by the church he pastors.
I have news for MacArthur, the sins of CJ Mahaney have never once been named in Osteen’s camp and I seriously doubt they ever will be. MacArthur’s hypocrisy is sickening. While calling Osteen demon possessed for propagating positive visualization, he himself propagates gospel contemplationism via Mahaney’s Reformed assertion that gospel manifestations occur as a result of contemplating the five-word gospel: “Christ died for our sins” and looking for it in every verse of the Bible. MacArthur has bought into this Reformed mysticism lock, stock, and barrel.
I thank Julie Anne Smith and her investigative reporting at Spiritual Sounding board .com. Please go there and get up to speed on what is being revealed about the ministry that CJ Mahaney is president of, Sovereign Grace Ministries (SGM). This is what MacArthur endorses. “But he didn’t know.”
Boloney, if a housewife from Oregon knew, MacArthur knew. And now we know that truth and justice really doesn’t matter to Mac. These guys make their own rules; like when Calvin had Michael Servetus executed when heresy wasn’t on the books as a capital offence.
This is their proud heritage, and the student always ends up like the teacher.
paul
Received Email Exemplifies the Crux of Reformed Heresy
“Clearly, this person speaks well for the whole Reformed community that posits the idea that perfection must be maintained in sanctification for the purpose of meriting God’s declaration in a final judgment. We must have a righteousness in sanctification that ‘rises’ to the level of perfection in order to ‘merit’ God’s declaration.”
Look, this isn’t really complicated. And even if it is—suck it up, God gave you a brain—use it! You persevered in thinking to get your degree in whatever, and I have a newsflash for you, this is much more important. Another newsflash: your pastor isn’t going to answer for you. Yes, this may be a shocker for you, but in the end, it is just going to be you and Jesus face to face. You will not be able to blame your pastor, your mommy, your daddy, your sister, your brother, etc., etc., etc. And be sure of this: you will not be able to blame John Calvin either.
Is our just standing finished or not? Will Christians stand in a future judgment that will coronate; or said another way, officially manifest our just standing? Does what we do in sanctification determine whether or not we will be found just at a future judgment? Or, is our just standing (righteous standing) already determined, and we will therefore stand in a judgment for rewards rather than a final coronation of righteousness? Therefore, is there a separate resurrection and judgment for sanctification because our just standing has already been determined? This is the crux of the issue.
And why is that important? Because the paramount eternal questions follow: we were saved by faith alone and declared righteous, but does that mean we must continue to live by faith alone in order to maintain our just standing? And if we can add works to our faith, is there a certain way that we have to do it in order that it is considered to be faith alone by God? Or, is our justification settled, and caution concerning obedience to God’s counsel unnecessary? Is justification settled and no longer the issue, but rather blessings and other issues? Is the declaration alone enough? Or do I have to be just in this life as well? And if I need to actually have righteousness in this life, is it perfection, or something else?
By faith alone, we believe that Christ died for our sins. Our sin was imputed to Christ, and then He bore the punishment. Our sin, and the old nature that was enslaved by sin, died with Christ. Then, the righteousness of God the Father was imputed to us APART from the law. We were then raised with Christ in His resurrection, and given all of the power and blessings of salvation through the new birth.
We are presently righteous for three reasons in our present state: there is no law to judge us for justification purposes, and where there is no law, there is no sin. We have the seed of God within us, and the mortal body that we live in suffered death with Christ, and we are therefore no longer under the covenant of the law for justification. So, we presently live apart from the law because like the death of a spouse that frees us from a marriage covenant, our death with Christ frees us from the covenant of the law….FOR JUSTIFICATION. We are NOT under law, but UNDER GRACE. And we ARE righteous because we ARE born again of God, and there is no law to judge the sin of our mortal body….FOR JUSTIFICATION. That part of us that “delights in the law of God” in the “inward” part of us is in fact holy and righteous. We are therefore enslaved to righteousness, and free to sin. Formally, we were enslaved to sin and free to righteousness. Therefore, the direction is different. We now move from sin to what we are enslaved to; formally, we were enslaved to sin.
We are holy and righteous in our inward being, that is why the “law of our mind” is in conflict with “the law of flesh and sin.” Before, there was only conflict between our conscience and the works of the law that God writes on the heart of everyone who is created, but now our conscience is set on fire and we are empowered to follow it and God’s specific, full counsel for life and godliness.
Now, consider an email I received today from a notable Reformed person who I will not name:
Paul,
Would you, or a member of your group, please comment on whether you believe a person´s “righteousness” in sanctification ever rises to the level of perfection that it merits God´s declaration of justification? This is really the issue.
Yes, that is absolutely the issue. Notice, in true Reformed fashion, our practical righteousness in sanctification (the Christian life) must rise to the level of “perfection” in order to “merit God’s declaration of justification.” In other words, law is still the standard for our just standing and the imputed righteousness of God is not “apart from the law.” Law is still the standard. Also, in regard to dying with Christ, it is no longer like a spouse who is no longer under a law covenant (Paul used marriage as the example), but the covenant of law must be maintained.
Clearly, this person speaks well for the whole Reformed community that posits the idea that perfection must be maintained in sanctification for the purpose of meriting God’s declaration in a final judgment. We must have a righteousness in sanctification that “rises” to the level of perfection in order to “merit” God’s declaration. And therefore, the old self did not die with Christ, and the works of the old man are therefore held against us.
Therefore, in the Reformed gospel construct, that must eliminate our works in sanctification. We must continue to live by faith alone. We must continue in the same gospel that saved us. Sound familiar? Any wonder that we must, “preach the gospel to ourselves every day”? Supposedly, when we live by faith alone in sanctification, Christ’s perfect righteousness is progressively imputed to our account, and we will thereby be found perfectly righteous in the final judgment. That is why the following two questions are really gospel questions: “How many judgments?” “How many resurrections?” That is also why premil, amil, and postmil are also gospel questions.
But, what shall we say about having to continue by faith alone in order to maintain our just standing? Is this not a form of works salvation because the works of justification are only finished if we continue our sanctified lives by faith alone? Supposedly, if we do not add works to our sanctification by faith alone—it either means that we never had salvation or we can lose our salvation. Either way, works must be added to our Christian life by faith alone.
How in the world would you do that? This would seem to lead to all kinds of complicated introspection and fear that we are working by faith alone, and not “in our own efforts.” You would be correct by noting that. That would be works in sanctification which in the Reformed gospel construct is obviously the same as works in justification. For all practical purposes: progressive justification; what they call, “progressive sanctification” because our sanctification is progressing towards a final proclamation of our just standing—if we do sanctification by faith alone—the same way we were saved.
Answer to the prior question: it is done through gospel contemplationism. Meditation is not considered to be a “work.” As we contemplate the works of Christ in every verse of the Bible, ie., “what He has done, not anything we do,” “the perfect works of Christ are presented to the Father, the law is satisfied, and we are justified.” Progressively, that is.
This is the Reformed gospel plain and simple. And it is a false one.
paul
Paul's Passing Thoughts 
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