February 4, 2006
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Reformed denominations — the PCA, OPC, RPCNA, URCNA etc — should you join them? Are they true or false churches? In other words, do they PREACH THE TRUE GOSPEL of imputed righteousness and atoning blood?
Over the next few days I want to review and JUDGE by the Scripture the doctrine of these churches.
I don’t care how old they are or how many people belong to them. If that’s how you judge a church, then go back to Rome.
Here’s my plan.
PCA (Saturday)
OPC (Sunday)
RPCNA (Monday)Before I begin my series, here are some questions you should ask yourself.
Do ministers in your denomination use the following phrases?
– “There is NOTHING required for salvation but the work of Christ”
– “Saving Faith is simply to believe the propositions of the gospel”
– “Arminianism is damnable heresy and all who believe in it are damned.”
– “To doubt your salvation is to call God a liar in His promises.”
– “God hates the reprobate.”
– “Grace is not common.”
– “The Bible never says the gospel should be ‘offered’.”
– “John Calvin and Martin Luther believed in universal atonement and were not saved.”
– “The Puritans were a bunch of self-righteous Pharisees trying to base their assurance of salvation on their works.”
– “Augustine of Hippo was a Roman Catholic, not a Christian.”
If your pastor disagrees with the statements above, you are following a false shepherd.
Comments (14)
Being very familiar with the beliefs and practices of the OPC, PCA, FPC, RPC-Ireland, WPCUS, FCoS-Continuing, FCoS-Residual, and RPCNA; I look forward to your commentary. I would suggest your also analyzing the RPNA.
I forgot mention, hopefully you won’t misconstrue and mispresent Reformed beliefs and Calvin as you did in this post and have done in the past.
Interesting…I’m looking forward to hearing your argument. Personally, I disagree with most of the above statements. By the sound of it, you’re adding works to salvation. The Bible never says “Believe on the doctrine of limited atonement, and you shall be saved.”
An Arminian’s theology is most definitely contradictory, and if they truly believed it, your assurtions might be true. However, very few really understand what exactly they are implying by it.
I’d write more, but I have to run.
You say “God hates the reprobate” and anyone who disagrees with this is a false shepherd. Ok, follow me if you would be so kind…….
My first question. Is Jesus a false shepherd?
Mark 10: 20. And he answered and said to Him, “Teacher, all these I have observed from my youth.” 21. Then Jesus, looking at him, loved him,….
As we know, the rich young ruler walks off the pages of history forever……
Matthew 5:43. “You have heard that it was said, `You shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy.’ 44. “But I say to you, love your enemies, bless those who curse you, do good to those who hate you, and pray for those who spitefully use you and persecute you, 45. “that you may be sons of your Father in heaven; for He makes His sun rise on the evil and on the good, and sends rain on the just and on the unjust. 46. “For if you love those who love you, what reward have you? Do not even the tax collectors do the same? 47. “And if you greet your brethren only, what do you do more than others? Do not even the tax collectors do so? 48. “Therefore you shall be perfect, just as your Father in heaven is perfect.
Why does God through Jesus command us to love our enemy’s when if what you propose is true He is unwilling to do the same?
Isaiah chapter 63:7 . I will mention the lovingkindnesses of the Lord and the praises of the Lord, according to all that the Lord has bestowed on us, and the great goodness toward the house of Israel, which He has bestowed on them according to His mercies, according to the multitude of His lovingkindnesses. 8. For He said, “Surely they are My people, children who will not lie.” So He became their Savior. 9. In all their affliction He was afflicted, and the Angel of His Presence saved them; in His love and in His pity He redeemed them; and He bore them and carried them all the days of old. 10. But they rebelled and grieved His Holy Spirit; so He turned Himself against them as an enemy, and He fought against them.
He fought against them.” That’s an amazing statement because here you have God defined as the Savior, the lover, the redeemer of a people who are His enemies.
Dear brother, God defines Himself as a God of love. I see in the scriptures where He will eventually hate the reprobate, but that will happen only after He has showered them with love.
Finally…..
If love is patient (1 Cor 13:4) then wasn’t Gods patients with the people in Noah’s day an act of love toward the reprobate?
If your pastor disagrees with the statements above, you are following a false shepherd.
So if he does not believe them all he is a heretic and if he does he is an idiot, how can he win?
The problem is that you fail to respond to comments contrary to your position, and when you do you, you just write in bold letters, restating what you said and ignoring what they said, and as long as you do this most will refuse to take you seriously.
I know you haven’t studied Church history, the Church Fathers, or the History of the Bible, its origination and compilation, because if you had, we wouldn’t need to have this conversation. This post was and is absolute trash. Please stop posting on what you haven’t studied and do not understand. This needs to stop, and unless you are a naive teenager, what you have already written is beyond forgiveness.
I am sorry if the tone of my rebuke was not loving. I simply cannot find or sense any concern from you for your audience, only anger. Besides being theologically weak and historically uninformed, these posts seem to only stir controversy with no clear goal or aim. I will debate every point of this post with you if you on xanga if you wish, but it is hard for me how you came to accept most of them yourself.
At a time when people are realizing that Christianity is about love and grace, you rightly emphasize the hatred and wrath of almighty God upon those He justly chose beforehand to damn eternally in the horrifying flames of gahenna without any regard for their freedom!!!
America needs more fundamentalists like you – people who can speak on behalf of God and tell us exactly who is and who isn’t going to heaven!!! I’m not quite sure who gave you the authority to make such pronouncements, but truly you are a prophetic voice for the twenty-first century, speaking a hardcore message of truth against all things heretical!!! (What’s that against my cheek? Oh, it’s my tongue.)
Thank the angry Lord above for your concern of PREACHING THE TRUE GOSPEL of imputed righteousness and atoning blood!!! As the elite (that’s you and me) know, imputation as a doctrine was smothered by the Church for fifteen hundred years until the Reformation, when it came to us through those crispy-fried residents of hell John Calvin and Martin Luther; then, only when our little cult of a group sprang up and adopted what would seem to be the innovations of these men, and refined them to suit our own tastes, reading the Bible as if it were written in a vacuum and dropped from the sky by God — of course we’d never affirm such a thing, as it would undermine the importance of the Incarnation — only then did God really start moving through His Church and saving people!!!
Also, I would warmly shake your hand (but your hand probably burns with holiness) at the distinction between Augustine’s Roman Catholicism and Christianity!!! Roman Catholicism is NOT Christianity, no matter how much people say it is!!! Some of its practices actually date back to the end of the first and the beginning of the second century A.D., and that’s CERTAINLY not Bible times!!!
How did you get so smart?!?! I mean REALLY, I used to think that salvation had more to do with a dynamic relationship that a man has with God, but I have since learned that any practical application of my faith to daily living is WORKS-RIGHTEOUSNESS!!! God is not concerned about how I go about my business, or whether or not I actually SHOW that I believe! He wants my mental assent only, and HE HAS IT!!! But I also have to keep in mind that He only has my acceptance because He made me accept Him. Way to spiritually rape me!!! Woo-hoo!!!
Gosh, it’s cool to be us.
P.S. I agree, the Puritans SUCK!!! As I always say, standing in prayer ahead of some self-righteous prig, “Lord, I thank you I’m not like those Arminians, Reformers, Puritans, and grungy Augustine of HIPPO!!! To begin with, I believe in imputed righteousness and that salvation is by mental assent to propositional truth…”
Is it possible for you to simply state your own position without attacking everyone else (and I mean EVERYONE)? I don’t think so…
It seems rather obvious that your only actual distinctive is that you pronounce anathema on everyone else. There are plenty of other Hyper-Calvinists, Antinomians, and regular ol’ Calvinists who consign all Arminians to hellfire; but only you and your compatriots claim that all who are not with your “little flock” are unregenerate. This explains why you can never simply state what you believe, without condemning all others; because that is the one essential point that you believe (i.e. all others are condemned).
wow… I never knew a calvinist could paint such a small picture of God.
He’s not a calvinist…he’s what attempts to give calvinists a bad rep. He wishes to claim others to be pharisaical, when in truth his own words speak with such an attitude.
there is nothing required for salvation but the work of Christ? Then the Bible is wrong….
Romans 10:8 That if you confess with your mouth that “Jesus is Lord” and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved. CONFESS, BELIEVE, these are both actions that the Bible states you must do to be saved. How are these not requirements?
And how would you know if John Calvin and Martin Luther are in Hell? That is something between them and God that no other person can know. Here’s a hint, stop reading all the books about the Bible, and actually read THE Bible, it’s the best book, it’s “living and active” and it’s the best way to discern what God wants for your life.
You are an idiot.
We are saved by faith and works, that is by God’s gift of faith to us and Christ’s works. Although good fruit and works evidence our salvation, we cannot add anything of our works lest we nullify the Grace of God. All that we have regarding salvation is a result of God giving it to us (saving faith/belief), as a result of Christ accomplishing it on our behalf, and the Spirit’s empowering us to show good fruit and works. Hence, one cannot add anything of ours to salvation (Eph. 2:8-9, Rom. 3:28, Rom. 4:15-17, etc.).