Paul's Passing Thoughts

Sanctified Calvinist Joel Taylor was once a member of a Heart Cry (Paul Washer’s missionary society) church plant. Since he left more than a year ago, Washer’s boy-elders have been stalking him and his family. Taylor’s recent, and chilling account can be read here.

By the way, just sayin’, if Paul Washer ever smacks me on the head, it’s on. If any New Calvinist ever lays hands on me, they are in for a really, really big surprise. “Paul! Where in the world did that come from?” I’m not at liberty to say. Let’s just say that my nature is not as passive as some other brethren. And even before I was a Christian I had contempt for bullies.

And Paul Washer is a bully. While presenting himself as a crusader against easy believism and a stalwart of Biblicism, he propagates an egregious false gospel. That’s why he allows his little minions to stalk his detractors; he’s unregenerate. 2 + 2 = 4.

Let me make that case. In Washer’s book, The Gospel Call And True Conversion, one does not even get past the first chapter without taking note of blatant heresies. In chapter one, under  The Essential Characteristics Of Genuine Repentance, and under the element, Renunciation of works, Washer states that the truly righteous person “sees” the impossibility of possessing God’s righteousness and the “unsearchable depths of his own depravity.” Any questions? Under Practical Obedience, if one reads carefully, Washer posits the only logical conclusion to the assertion that Christians are totally depraved; “obedience” is a “manifestation” of Christ’s salvific works progressively imputed to us.

Under Continuing and Deepening Work of Repentance, Washer states that maturity in a Christian life grows as we obtain a deeper and deeper sense of our own brokenness and depravity. But then the grand heresy follows under the same heading that is the last element of repentance in chapter one. Washer asserts that as the Christian becomes more and more aware of his own depravity, visions of God’s grace results in joy. Washer states that the joy equals our brokenness. So, focusing on our depravity, as Christians, leads to seeing God’s grace more and resulting in joy. In essence, and please note this with all vigor, we find joy in our depravity. Of this, Washer states in the same section, “This cycle simply repeats itself throughout the Christian life.”

That’s why my dear Sanctified Calvinist friend—that’s why Washer stands by silently: it’s a totally depraved family tradition.

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