G’day James,

I found your site by searching “Arminianism” on the Xanga search engine.

I AGREE with EVERYTHING you said in the quote above. NOTHING is required for salvation from hell but the BARE WORK OF CHRIST. Belief is simply the way God reveals to a sinner that they are justified by Christ’s obedience to the Law and atoning blood.

You are also claim to be a supralapsarian. That’s good. I like the way you write,

Correct!! God works ALL things according to the counsel of His own will.

James, I have some questions for you.

God says that all who believe the gospel are saved. Therefore, if a believer could doubt they are saved, wouldn’t they be calling God a liar in His promises? And doesn’t 1 John 5:10 say that those who call God a liar, are “not believing God” and “have not the Son”??

Can you find any believers in the Bible doubting they are saved?

Interested to hear your responses.

1) John 10:5 says that believers will
NEVER follow a false shepherd. But Arminians follow false shepherds. Therefore,
Arminians are not believers.

“the sheep follow him
because they know his voice. But they will not follow a stranger, never! But
they will flee from him, because they do not know the voice of the strangers.”
(Jn 10:4-5).

2) Isaiah 45:20 says that those who pray
to a God that cannot save know nothing. Arminians believe that men have free
will and the god they pray to cannot save. Arminians know nothing of the Just
God and Savior.

“Gather yourselves and come; draw
near together, escaped ones of the nations; the ones who set up the wood of
their carved image, and the ones who pray to a god who cannot save; they know
nothing. Declare and bring near; yea, let them consult together. Who has
revealed this of old; who has told it from then? Is it not I, Jehovah? And there
is no God other than Me; a just God and a Savior; there is none except Me.” (Isa
45:20-21)

3) 2 John 9 says that those who do not
abide in the doctrine of Christ have not God. No Arminian is abiding in the
doctrine of Christ since all Arminians believe in a false gospel of salvation by
works. Arminians have not God. Of course, if God later converts an Arminian to
the true Gospel of salvation SOLELY by Christ’s BARE WORK then it would mean
that this Arminian is not reprobate. However, all Arminians who die believing in
any of the five points of Arminianism go to hell.

“Everyone transgressing and not abiding in the doctrine of Christ does
not have God. The one abiding in the doctrine of Christ, this one has the Father
and the Son. If anyone comes to you and does not bear this doctrine, do not
receive him into the house, and do not speak a greeting to him. For the one
speaking a greeting shares in his evil works.” (2 Jn 9-11).

4) Romans 10 says that the Jews were ignorant of the righteousness of God
and went about to establish their own righteousness. Likewise, no Arminian is
submitted to the righteousness of God because they do NOT believe the gospel of
imputed righteousness. If Paul was alive today he would pray for Arminians to be
saved for they have a zeal for God but not according to
knowledge.

“Brothers, truly my heart’s pleasure and
supplication to God on behalf of Israel is for it to be saved. For I testify to
them that they have zeal to God, but not according to knowledge. For being
ignorant of the righteousness of God, and seeking to establish their own
righteousness, they did not submit to the righteousness of God.” (Rom
10:1-3)

5) In Acts 8:20 Peter judged Simon Magnus to
be unregenerate because Simon thought salvation could come by human efforts.
Arminians are no better than Simon in their beliefs concerning salvation. Both
Simon and Arminians believe that man has a role to play in justification.
Therefore, Arminians are in perdition, a bond of iniquity and a gall of
bitterness.

“But Simon having seen that the Holy
Spirit is given through the laying on of the hands of the apostles, he offered
them money, saying, Give to me also this authority that to whomever I may lay on
the hands he may receive the Holy Spirit. But Peter said to him, May your silver
be with you into perdition, because you thought to get the gift of God through
money. There is neither part nor lot to you in this matter, for your heart is
not upright before the face of God. Repent, then, from this wickedness of yours,
and petition God if perhaps you will be forgiven the thought of your heart. For
I see you being in the gall of bitterness and a bundle of unrighteousness.”
(Acts 8:18-23)

6) John 4:14 says that believers never
thirst for the waters of eternal life. Now, Arminians find their assurance not
in the finished work of Christ but Arminians drink from the well of salvation by
works (e.g. saving yourself by the work of their “free will”). Therefore,
Arminians are not believers.

“but whoever may drink
of the water which I will give him will not thirst, never! But the water which I
will give to him will become a fountain of water in him, springing up into
everlasting life.” (Jn 4:14)

7) 1 John 5:10-12 says
those not believing God’s testimony have called Him a liar. It also says that
those who call God a liar have not the Son and have not life. Arminians do not
believe God’s testimony, i.e. that the Father is perfectly well pleased with the
work of the Son and that all believers have been given everlasting life.
Arminians say that God is a liar and effectively treat Satan as a
truth-teller.

“The one believing in the Son of God
has the witness in himself. The one not believing God has made Him a liar,
because he has not believed in the witness which God has witnessed concerning
His Son. And this is the witness: that God gave us everlasting life, and this
life is in His Son. The one having the Son has life. The one not having the Son
of God does not have life.” (1 Jn 5:10-12)

8) James
1:6-7 says that those who “pray” doubting can expect nothing from God. Arminians
do not believe that God controls everything, therefore they cannot pray with
faith. Arminians can therefore expect nothing from God (this includes
salvation).

“But if any of you lacks wisdom, let him
ask from God, who gives to all freely and with no reproach, and it will be given
to him. But let him ask in faith, doubting nothing. For the one who doubts is
like a wave of the sea, being driven by wind and being tossed; for do not let
that man suppose that he will receive anything from the Lord; he is a
double_soiled man, not dependable in all his ways.” (Jam
1:5-8)

9) (a) 2 Corinthians 13:5 says that people who
are not sure whether or not Christ is in them are unregenerate. Arminians cannot
know that Christ is in them (by believing in a false christ they are ignorant of
who the real Christ is). Arminians base their assurance on their works and are
unregenerate. Of course, if God converts an Arminian to believe that Christ lay
down His life for the sheep and fulfilled the Law, then that Arminian is no
longer an Arminian. He is now a Christian and will deduce his election from his
belief in the bare truth of the gospel.

“Or do you
not yourselves perceive that Jesus Christ is in you, unless you are
disapproved?” (2 Cor 13:5)

(b) Paul addressed his
letter to the Ephesians with “to the saints and faithful at Ephesus”. Paul
assumed that the Ephesians knew they were saints and faithful (otherwise, they
would not have known the epistle was for them). Arminians do not have the
assurance of salvation of the Ephesians because Arminians do not know that the
work of salvation is finished. Arminians are ignorant of the fact that NOTHING
is required for justification but the imputed righteousness and atoning blood of
Christ. By thinking that man has to contribute to justification, Arminians can
NEVER be assured of salvation by Christ’s bare work alone. Only those who
believe that man is TOTALLY PASSIVE in justification can be assured that Christ
COMPLETELY FULFILLED THE LAW. All who believe in the true gospel of imputed
righteousness will deduce that they are elect from their assent to the
propositions of the gospel.

“Paul, an apostle of
Jesus Christ through the will of God, to the saints being in Ephesus and
faithful in Christ Jesus.” (Eph 1:1)

(c) Peter wrote
only to those of “EQUALLY PRECIOUS” to the Apostles (2 Peter 1:1). Arminians do
not have the faith of the Apostles, however, because they deny “IT IS FINISHED”.
By believing that man must do x, y or z to be justified Christ profits them
nothing. Of course, if God later on converts an Arminian to the True Gospel (the
doctrines of the Finished Atonement and Imputed Righteousness) then that
Arminian has BECOME a Christian (the moment he believed the True Gospel) and
must be elect.

“Simon Peter, a servant and an apostle
of Jesus Christ, to them that have obtained like equally precious faith with us
through the righteousness of God and our Savior Jesus Christ.” (2 Pet
1:1)

10) 2 John 9-11 says that those who speak peace
to outward heretics share in the heretic’s evil deeds. Tolerant Calvinists speak
peace to Arminians. To all you TCs out there: You are unregenerate.

“Everyone transgressing and not abiding in the doctrine of Christ does
not have God. The one abiding in the doctrine of Christ, this one has the Father
and the Son. If anyone comes to you and does not bear this doctrine, do not
receive him into the house, and do not speak a greeting to him. For the one
speaking a greeting shares in his evil works.” (2 Jn 9-11).

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.

DISCLAIMER: God the Son is CO-EQUAL with the Father and is NO WAY eternally subordinate to Him. They have ONE ETERNAL WILL, and that is why they are ONE GOD. The same goes with the Holy Spirit. He too, is a PERSON with all His attributes being infinite. He is infinitely powerful, for instance. Thus, he can’t be “less” divine than the Father and the Son. After all, if you are INFINITELY powerful, you cannot be “less” powerful than anyone.

This raises a very important question.

If the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit are all equally God, then, what is the difference between them? If all Three are Sovereign, infinitely Just and Holy etc, how can we distinguish One from Another? What’s the difference between God the Son and God the Father?

Can we distinguish God from God?

Now, God the Father did not die on the cross. And the Christ did not manifest Himself at Pentecost. These are some of the ECONOMICAL differences between the Persons of the Trinity. Most people will agree with me on this. This is not the point of controversy. The real DISPUTE is whether or not these economical workings reflect something eternal about each Person.

Christ was born of woman. Does it end there? Or is there something more? Is there a meaning behind why The Son was born of the woman and not the Father? Could it be that Christ is also eternally begotten, and His Virgin Birth reflects that? Likewise, the Holy Spirit proceeded at Pentecost after Christ had finished His work. Now, why is that so? Could it be that the Holy Spirit eternally proceeds from the Father and the Son?

I believe that YES, there is a REASON why God the Father was not born of a virgin. It’s because He is NOT eternally begotten — the Son is!

And since the Son is eternally begotten of the Father then we can DISTINGUISH Him from the Father. We CANNOT say that the Father is eternally begotten. It’s an incommunicable attribute of The Son. By “incommunicable” I mean that this attribute CANNOT be transferred to the Father or the Holy Spirit.

If we want to define a person, we say that the person belongs to a particular group. But there must also be something about the person that distinguishes them from everyone else in the group. For instance, you are a human. So, by this definition we can distinguish you from animals and God. You don’t belong to the categories of either “animals” or “God”. But how can we tell the difference between you and all other humans? What makes you an individual? To answer this, we need to find something about you that no other human has. For example, we could point to the fact that in your lifetime, you have thought certain thoughts that no other human ever has. You have thought a certain combination of propositions that no one has ever thought. We thus distinguish humans based on the content of their minds.

Back to Christ. He is obviously in the category “God”. He’s Sovereign, infinitely powerful, inf holy, inf just, inf merciful, inf loving, everywhere, all knowing and all wise. Christ is obviously God. But since the Father is also in the category “God”, we need something about the Son to distinguish Him from the Father. This is where the GLORIOUS TRUTH of the eternal generation must be preached. It is the ONE ATTRIBUTE that distinguishes the Son from the Father. It makes the Son and the Father individuals. (Again, the same goes for the Holy Spirit, too. He is the only member of the Trinity to ETERNALLY PROCEED. He, too, is an individual).

So the difference between the Father and the Son is NOT that the Son is subordinate, inferior or less-God than the Father. Instead, the difference between the Father and Son is that the Father eternally begets the Son. Likewise, the difference between the Holy Spirit on the one hand, and the Father and the Son on the other, is NOT that the Holy Spirit is less-God. Rather, the Holy Spirit is distinguished by the fact that He eternally proceeds from the Father and the Son.

10 REASONS THE SON IS ETERNALLY BEGOTTEN