Predestination and Irresistible Grace.
John Calvin was born on the 10 of July 1509, and died on the 27 of May 1564, he was 54 years old. He was an influential French theologian and was regarded as a pastor and reformer during the Protestant Reformation. Calvin was a principal figure in the development of what is known today as Calvinism. John Calvin was not a Born-Again Christian either in a biblical sense or any other sense. You might ask how I can say this, well the answer is simple, because it is true. The following indisputable and historically proven facts prove this beyond any-doubt. John Calvin was never baptized as a born-again Christian according to God’s Holy Word the Bible. Calvin believed that the baptism that he received as a baby in the Roman Catholic Church made him a Christian. This belief of course is in direct contradiction with God’s Holy Word the Bible. The statements that John Calvin made, the beliefs that he held, and the actions that John Calvin took against the people who disagreed with his own beliefs, also prove beyond any-doubt that John Calvin was never saved, and he was never a born-again Christian. John Calvin first came to Geneva in 1536, and that is where he first met another French theologian Guillaume Farel and together, they tried to run the Church and rule Geneva. But this only lasted for two years until 1538, when John Calvin and Guillaume Farel were exiled because of their extreme methods and their extreme views. Then three years later in 1541, Calvin returned to Geneva and ruled Geneva from 1541, until his death in 1564, a period of 23 years, and there is no doubt that he was as cruel and vile a dictator as any Pope, and would have made any Pope of the Roman Catholic Church proud. Calvin started to rule Geneva with an iron fist, and in order to regulate the conduct of the people Calvin established a system of home visits. This gave Calvin and his followers the right to go into people’s homes and question them on any and all aspects of their lives. Calvin introduced laws that gave him the right to tell people how much clothing they could have, and what colour a person’s clothes should be. These laws also gave Calvin the right to tell people how many dishes they were allowed to have at the table, when they sat down in their own homes for their meals. Calvin had one woman put in jail because he decided that her hair was an immoral height on her head. John Calvin also passed other laws that were even more vile and evil than putting women in jail for having their hair to high on their head. For example, fornication was to be punished by exile or drowning, adultery, blasphemy and idolatry were to be punished by death. Calvin actually had a child beheaded for striking its parents, how horribly evil is that. From 1558 to 1559 there were 414 prosecutions for moral offences. From 1542 to 1564 the year of Calvin's death there were seventy-six banishment's and fifty-eight executions presided over and carried out on the orders of John Calvin. Another historic event that proves beyond doubt just how evil John Calvin really was, is the cold-blooded murder of Michael Servetus on October 17th 1553. Michael Servetus did not agree with the theology of John Calvin and wrote him many letters concerning his theology, and there can be no doubt that John Calvin passionately hated Michael Servetus for doing so. On February 14th 1546 John Calvin wrote a letter to his friend Guillaume Farel clearly expressing his feelings for Servetus.
The following quote is part of that letter. “Servetus has just sent me a long volume of his ravings. If I consent, he will come here, but I will not give my word, for should he come, if my authority is of any avail, I will not suffer him to get out alive”
Seven years later on his way to Naples Servetus made the fatal mistake of going through Geneva to get there. He was recognized when attending Church by someone who reported to John Calvin that he was in Geneva, and Calvin immediately ordered his arrest. The trial of Servetus lasted two months, during which time Geneva’s Council consulted the other Protestant Churches of Switzerland and their reply was as follows, “Servetus should be condemned but not executed” But John Calvin's hatred of Servetus was so strong that he ignored the decision of the Geneva Council and the Protestant Churches of Switzerland. Calvin sentenced Servetus to death on two counts of heresy, Rejection of the Trinity, and rejection of infant Baptism.
Historian Will Durant wrote the following account of the horrifying details of the cold blooded murder of Michael Servetus on October 17th 1553 by the order of John Calvin.
He asked to be beheaded rather than burned; Calvin was inclined to support this plea, but the aged Farel...reproved him for such tolerance; and the Council voted that Servetus should be burned alive. The sentence was carried out the next morning, October 17, 1553. On the way [To the burning] Farel importuned Servetus to earn divine mercy by confessing the crime of heresy; according to Farel the condemned man replied, “I am not guilty, I have not merited death” and he besought God to pardon his accusers. He was fastened to a stake by iron chains, and his last book was bound to his side. When the flames reached his face he shrieked with agony. After half an hour of burning he died.
In regard to infant Baptism, the biblical mandate for anyone seeking God’s free gift of Salvation is to believe first and then be baptized. John Calvin did not believe this biblical mandate to be true and he fully supported the Lutheran Church and the Roman Catholic Church in the persecution of anyone who believed in and followed this biblical mandate. John Calvin made it very clear how he felt about those people who believed first and then were baptized as born-again believers. Calvin made the following statement about such people.
{One should not be content with simply killing such people, but should burn them cruelly}
The question must be asked at this point, how could any true born-again believer accept and follow the teachings of such a vile and evil man, or even accept such a man as a born-again believer. The answer is, they could not accept such a man as a true believer or his false and empty teachings. With total dictatorial control of the people of Geneva Calvin was as cruel and evil as any dictator that came before him or after him. Calvin imposed his own brand of Christianity upon the people of Geneva with floggings, imprisonments, banishment's, brutal and evil torture, and the burning of many innocent people at the stake. It is no wonder Calvin was called the “Protestant Pope and the Genevese dictator” who would tolerate in Geneva no one’s opinion but his own. In one year, Calvin and his followers accused fourteen women of being witches and had them burnt at the stake, on the charge that they had persuaded Satan to afflict Geneva with plague. A citizen named Jacques Gruet was arrested on the suspicion of having placed a placard on Calvin's pulpit which read: { Gross hypocrite... After people have suffered long, they avenge themselves... Take care that you are not served like M. Verle...}
Gruet was tortured twice every day until after thirty days of the most cruel and evil and severe torture that a person can imagine, he finally broke and confessed, whether truthfully, or to end the torture, no one knows but God. On July 16, 1547 half dead from thirty days of torture this poor man Jacques Gruet was taken from prison to the place of execution, he was tied to a stake, his feet were then nailed to the stake, and his head was cut off. John Calvin was a cruel and evil man and certainly was not a true believer by any standard. John Calvin died in 1564 totally unrepentant of any of the evil things that he had done. In light of all of the evidence that we have available to us today there is only one conclusion that any reasonable minded person can come to and that is that John Calvin was not at any point in his life a true born-again Christian, he was never saved, and anyone who blindly follows his doctrines and teachings, are not saved believers either. That is one of the saddest facts in the world today because millions of people are told that they are saved, when the truth is that they are not saved at all, and that means that they are marching towards the gates of “HELL” and eternal damnation. Today, Calvinism has spread right across the world and is the doctrine that is taught in many main stream Church's, such as the Baptists Church's and the Methodist Church's and the Presbyterian Church's and a great many more. In Matthew 16:6-12 we read. Then Jesus said to them, "Take heed and beware of the leaven of the Pharisees and the Sadducees. And they reasoned among themselves, saying, "It is because we have taken no bread. But Jesus, being aware of it, said to them, "O you of little faith, why do you reason among yourselves because you have brought no bread? Do you not yet understand, or remember the five loaves of the five thousand and how many baskets you took up? Nor the seven loaves of the four thousand and how many large baskets you took up? How is it you do not understand that I did not speak to you concerning bread? --but to beware of the leaven of the Pharisees and Sadducees. Then they understood that He did not tell them to beware of the leaven of bread, but of the doctrine of the Pharisees and Sadducees. Matthew 16:6-12. In Luke 12:1 we read. In the meantime, when an innumerable multitude of people had gathered together, so that they trampled one another, He began to say to His disciples first of all. Beware of the leaven of the Pharisees, which is hypocrisy. These warnings are also for true believers today, we must reject all false doctrine and the organisations that teach them. True believers have no problem speaking out against the Mormon Church or the Jehovah’s Witness Church or some of the other Churches because they teach false doctrine. So why should it be any different when dealing with the Roman Catholic Church or the Methodist Church or the Presbyterian Church. The one thing that all of the Church’s that have been mentioned and many that have not been mentioned have in common is that they all teach false doctrine, they teach the doctrine of man and not the doctrine of God. Like many other false Churches Calvinism for the most part is based on the Bible, it is the parts that are not based on the Bible that will keep you from the presence of God for all eternity. The following two statements explain the Calvinist teaching of Predestination and Irresistible Grace.
Predestination
Calvinism teaches that sin so affects human nature that mankind is unable even to exercise faith in Christ by their own will. While people are said to retain free will, in that they wilfully sin, they are unable not to sin because of the corruption of their nature due to original sin. Calvinism teaches that God predestined some people to be saved; to enjoy the glory and beauty and joy of Heaven and predestined some people to be damned; to suffer the torment and punishment of Hell for all eternity.
Irresistible Grace
Efficacious grace", asserts that the saving grace of God is effectually applied to those whom God has determined to save (that is, the elect) and overcomes their resistance to obeying the call of the gospel, bringing them to a saving faith. This means that when God sovereignly purposes to save someone, that individual certainly will be saved. The doctrine holds that this purposeful influence of God's Holy Spirit cannot be resisted, but that the Holy Spirit, "graciously causes the elect sinner to cooperate, to believe, to repent, to come freely and willingly to Christ." This is not to deny the fact that the Spirit's outward call (through the proclamation of the Gospel) can be, and often is, rejected by sinners; rather, it's that inward call which cannot be rejected. As you can clearly see both of these terms mean and teach the same thing. They teach that man does not have the free will to accept or reject God’s free gift of Salvation. Calvinism teaches that God created some people for Salvation and some people for damnation. This means that no matter how guilty or repentant a person may feel, or how desperately they seek God’s forgiveness for their sins they can never receive it, because they have already been singled out for to be damned for all eternity or saved for all eternity. If this Calvinistic teaching or doctrine is true then there would be no need what so ever for to go out and preach the Gospel. Because it could not possibly make any difference what so ever to do so if the matter has already been decided. Calvinism teaches that it is not possible to resist the call of the Holy Spirit, if this is true, then again there would be no need to go out and preach the Gospel because those who are called would come into the Church by the direction of the Holy Spirit, or because they were compelled by the Holy Spirit to do so.
Now the Bible teaches that we must reject false doctrine and also reject those who teach false Doctrine. Please read Jude’s warning and take it to heart. Jude 1:1-4, Jude, a bondservant of Jesus Christ, and brother of James, to those who are called, sanctified by God the Father, and preserved in Jesus Christ: Mercy, peace, and love be multiplied to you. Beloved, while I was very diligent to write to you concerning our common salvation, I found it necessary to write to you exhorting you to contend earnestly for the faith which was once for all delivered to the saints. For certain men have crept in unnoticed, who long ago were marked out for this condemnation, ungodly men, who turn the grace of our God into lewdness and deny the only Lord God and our Lord Jesus Christ. Now the question is this, is the Calvinist doctrine of Predestination and Irresistible grace a Biblical doctrine or a false doctrine. The answer is that it is a false doctrine and it is in complete contradiction with what God’s Holy word the Bible teaches. This Calvinist doctrine teaches that it was never God's plan that Salvation should be offered equally to all of mankind, but was only to be given to the chosen few. But the doctrine of God’s Holy Word the Bible teaches very clearly that everyone has the free will to choose, and that God’s free gift of Salvation was and is for all mankind equally. Please look carefully at the following Scriptures. For God so loved the world that He {God} gave His only begotten Son {Jesus Christ}, that whoever believes in Him {Jesus Christ} should not perish but have everlasting life. For God did not send His Son {Jesus Christ} into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through Him {Jesus Christ} might be saved. John 3:16. 3:16. Does that sound like a limited atonement to you? Does the term “world” really mean world? Does the term “whoever” really mean whoever? Obviously, it does! And it's in full agreement with all of the other scriptures that speak of the universal nature of God’s free gift of Salvation. The following are only some of the verses of Scriptures that confirm this to be absolutely true. All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned, every one, to his own way; and the Lord has laid on Him [Jesus Christ] the iniquity of us all. Isaiah 53:6.
[Jesus Christ said,] And I, if I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all peoples to Myself. John 12:32. All peoples can only mean every person that was ever born and every person that will ever be born. Therefore, as through one man's offence judgement came to all men, resulting in condemnation, even so through one Man's righteous act the free gift came to all men, resulting in justification of life. For as by one man's disobedience many were made sinners, so also by one Man's obedience many will be made righteous. Romans 5:18-19.
Therefore, I exhort first of all that supplications, prayers, intercessions, and giving of thanks be made for all men, for kings and all who are in authority, that we may lead a quiet and peaceable life in all godliness and reverence. For this is the good and acceptable will of God our Saviour, who desires all men to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth. For there is one God and one Mediator between God and men, the Man Christ Jesus, who gave Himself a ransom for all, to be testified in due time. 1Timothy 2:1-6.
For to this end we both labour and suffer reproach, because we trust in the living God, who is the Saviour of all men, especially of those who believe. 1Timothy 4:10.
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, might taste death for everyone. Hebrews 2:9.
The Lord is not slack concerning His promise, as some count slackness, but is long suffering toward us, not willing that any should perish but that all should come to repentance. 2Peter 3:9.
My little children, these things I write to you, so that you may not sin. And if anyone sins, we have an Advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous. And He Himself {Jesus Christ} is the propitiation for our sins, and not ours only but also for the whole world. 1 John 2:1-2. Does "all" mean all? Does "everyone" mean everyone? Does "the whole world" mean the whole world? If these terms are understood in their normal and correct sense, then the limited Salvation theory is invalidated, totally null and void, completely wrong. If Salvation is limited in the way that Calvinists and Presbyterians and all other Churches who practice Calvinism say it is. Then it is not just pointless, but it is a horrible lie, to say that Jesus Christ is the propitiation for the sins of the whole world. If Jesus Christ tasted death for everyone, again it is senseless and a lie to say that Jesus Christ's sacrifice is effective for only a pre-set and specific number. If God desires all to come to repentance and wishes none to perish, again it is not just a lie, but it is a horrible lie, and it is unthinkable that God purposely, from the foundation of the world, excluded a portion of mankind from any hope of salvation. If God is the Saviour of all men, no one has the right to say that salvation is limited to a relatively small number of men. If God desires all to be saved, it is not just a serious mistake, but it is pure heresy to say that Christ died only for the elect. The Scriptures prove beyond any doubt that the Calvinist doctrine is completely wrong, and absolutely non-Biblical. Hopefully at this point you can now clearly see that the Calvinist doctrine of Predestination and Irresistible grace is totally and completely wrong and is beyond any doubt not the doctrine of the Bible. If it is not the doctrine of God’s Holy word the Bible, then it must be a false doctrine made up by men and must be rejected.
May God guide the hearts and minds of all who hear or read this message
And He {The Lord Jesus Christ} said to them, "Go into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature. He who believes and is baptized will be saved; but he who does not believe will be condemned. Mr 16:15-16.
I pray that this teaching will help whoever reads it to find the true path to God.