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A Letter to ‘Close-minded’ Calvinists!

If it is any help at all, I would have you folks know that from the very instant I was
snatched out of the burning, I knew I had not chosen Christ but He had chosen me!
Especially being a Satanist I had no desire whatsoever for Jesus, but hated the very
Name! In fact I spent very little time among the Arminians and when the truth of
Sovereign Grace came to me I had no difficulty accepting it.

All you people keep saying is that God cannot save you with an Arminian Gospel. My
real contention was what is the ‘Gospel’ that God uses to save his elect. You have
labored much to say that God cannot save His elect while still in the Arminian church but
He only saves them out of that church.

You probably mean that when the Arminian preaches in his gospel invitation –“you can
choose to let Christ in or that Christ died for the whole world” it is most dishonoring to
God even ‘Satanic’! And surely a message addressed in such a manner can never be used
of God to save anybody.

But are there not Scriptures in the Bible that speak in such a manner. Consider these –

Choose you this day whom ye will serve; whether the gods which your fathers served
that were on the other side of the flood [Josh 24:15]
Ho, every one that thirsteth, come ye to the waters, and he that hath no money; come
ye…[Isa 55:1]
But as many as received Him, to them gave He power to become the sons of God, etc
[Jn 1:12]
"If anyone thirsts, let him come to Me and drink." (Jn. 7:37)
God so loved the world that whosoever believeth on Him etc [Jn 3:16]
Now God commands all men everywhere to repent. [Act 17:30]
And whosoever will, let him take the water of life freely [Rev 22:17] [There are many
more, but this should suffice]

“Oh but the Arminians preach that Christ died for every one even the whole world. God
could never use such a gospel to save anyone”

Have you forgotten that except for few exceptions, the majority of the verses on the
Atonement in Scripture seem to say that He died for the whole world? –
Behold the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of the world. [Jn 1:29]
For the bread of God is he which cometh down from heaven, and giveth life unto the
world. [Jn 6:33]
The bread that I will give is my flesh, which I will give for the life of the world [Jn 6:51]
And He is the propitiation for our sins: and not for ours only, but also for the sins of the
whole world. [1Jn 2:2]
And we have seen and do testify that the Father sent the Son to be the savior of the world
[1Jn 4:14]
I have not quoted the above to defend either ‘Free will’ or an ‘Unlimited Atonement’, but
only to show that if God was a close minded ‘Calvinist’ He would have never allowed
such Words in His Book! The Majority of believers except those who were favoured
enough to be saved in a ‘Reformed Church’ initially believe that they ‘believed’ of their
own ‘free will’ and that Christ died for the whole world. It’s like a toddler who believes
that a ‘stork’ brought him to his parents and is ignorant about the gynecological facts
about his birth. But the time comes when he will grasp the truth about his birth.

Many a great ‘Reformer’ was still a part of the ‘Great Whore’ when God opened his eyes
and brought him out of it. God didn’t first get them out and lead them down the block to a
‘Reformed Church’ to get them saved!
It takes grace and faith from above and a little bit of ‘Study’ and a right ‘dividing of the
Word’ before one can perceive, believe and accept the doctrines of Sovereign Grace. But
it is definitely not a Requirement for salvation.

“Oh but those Arminian preachers are false prophets and surely God could never use
them to preach His Word. Generally speaking, Yes, you are right. But God is not
limited. One of the greatest prophesies concerning Israel and the Messiah was prophesied
by a false prophet, even Balaam– “there shall come a Star out of Jacob, and a Sceptre
shall rise out of Israel, and shall smite the corners of Moab, and destroy all the children of
Sheth etc” [Num24:17] And Judas though a ‘son of perdition’ accompanied the disciples
and preached and healed just as they did, so much so when Christ said, “one of you shall
betray Me” nobody even had the faintest clue that it was Judas. And Demas was a
coworker with Paul [Col 4:14] long before he went out ‘having loved this present world’
[1Tim 4;10].

Let us not limit the ‘Holy One of Israel’ just because His operations do not agree with
‘our Theology’. If any man think that he knoweth any thing, he knoweth nothing yet as
he ought to know. ‘Our God is in the heavens: He hath done whatsoever He hath pleased.
[Psa 115:3]. When it suits His purpose Jehovah uses everything starting from the Devil
who deceived our Parents to the worm which smote Jonah’s gourd!

But to return. The ‘Gospel’ as the Apostles proclaimed is simply that Jesus Christ died
for our sins, was buried and rose again, without laboring to explain that man had no
‘freewill’ or that Christ atoned only for the elect etc. NOWHERE did Christ or the
Apostles address the lost with any ‘Reformed truths’ and neither are we admonished to
do so. But once the man is saved the Spirit by and by leads him into ‘all Truth’ and out of
the Arminian assemblies because that is His office!
Like one of old said – “When you reach the Gates of Heaven you shall find written
above, the words – “Whosoever will may come” and you go through those gates and turn
back and see written on the back – “Chosen from the foundation of the world!”

So I rest my case. I believe that God can and does save his elect with the basic Gospel
which the Apostles preached. If you differ, you are free to do so, but you surely won’t be
able to defend it from the King James Bible.
Again, with all love and due respect, I trust you to be a people who love the truth and
hate the lie, and I praise God for this! I honestly have not read your personal testimonies
as to when and how you were saved. But considering your reaction to my article, I figure
that you were either privileged to be saved under Calvinist preaching or that you spent a
considerable amount of time amongst Arminians (as nominals) before actually believing
the doctrines of Sovereign Grace. Either way these are the only two classes of
‘Calvinists’ (pardon the term) that cannot receive what I have written.

Beloved, you have read the few articles that I have posted on different Forums and you
know how much I hate the doctrines of Arminianism! I hate them to such a degree that I
cannot even stomach ‘Calvinists’ who hold to ‘the sincere offer’ of the gospel or even
those who hold that ‘Christ’s Atonement is sufficient for the whole world but efficient for
the elect’!

I am convinced that the only reason why anyone would try to convince another brother
that he wasn’t saved when he claims he was is because they do not understand the
doctrine of Regeneration; and I might add, that they do not distinguish Regeneration
from Conversion.

Incidentally a man is not saved because he believes the right stuff (the Truth), he believes
the right stuff because he is saved! ‘Who hath saved us (first), and called us
(subsequently) with an holy calling, not according to our works, but according to his own
purpose and grace! [2Tim 1:9]. May God deliver us from falling prey to the proverbial
error of putting the cart before the horse!

And as for those who keep ranting that a man has to believe the ‘Five Points’ for God to
save him, let them show at least one Scriptural example where some evangelist preached
thus while addressing the lost; or let them forever hold their peace!

Finally, since the issue at hand is as to ‘when’ I was saved. Here is a Scriptural answer –

God saved me Eternally in His perfect, omniscient, omnipresent and omnipotent mind,
before the foundations of the world were laid! [Ephesians 1:4-6]

He saved me Legally by the completed work of Jesus Christ almost 2000 years ago
when He fulfilled the law perfectly and served as a propitiation for my sins, both of
omission and commission! [Isa 53:11; 1Pet 1:18,19]

God saved me Particularly when I was regenerated by the Spirit of God in time. This
happened NOT while I was seeking God or trying to please Him, but when I was dead in
trespasses and sins, and bearing the weapons of my warfare against Him. Christ caused
me to be regenerated, gave me a heart of flesh and gave me the gifts of belief, repentance,
and faith!

He saved me Authentically when He opened my eyes to the truths of the Gospel, which
the Apostle Paul received of the Lord and preached, i.e. “how that Christ died for our sins
according to the scriptures; And that he was buried, and that he rose again the third day
according to the scriptures”! [1Cor 15:1,2]

And praise His Name, He will save me Gloriously according to His promise, when one
day very soon I die and am eternally resurrected and taken to be with Him where He is;
or when He returns to this world to save the remnant of those who are left alive and
remain when He bodily returns. On that day I will be saved from the body of this death
and from the sting of death, and I will be securely ushered into the presence of our
gracious heavenly Lord and Savior, in whom I live and move and have my being. Amen!
[1Thes 1:10; 2Cor1:10]

Dearly Beloved, if any of the above sounds harsh or unloving it was not intended to be
so. To ‘speak the truth in love’ is something I am still learning. God bless you.

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