An Open Letter to Calvary Chapel...
Of Ft. LauderdaleThe heresy of Arminianism permeates this church and its stance on doctrine. They deny the reality of the true Gospel and make great lengths to distort the teaching of the Bible.
Below is a an open letter to Dr. Norman Geisler, Pastor Bob Coy and the congregation of Calvary Chapel of Ft. Lauderdale, Florida which challenges them to rethink their position of the Gospel of Jesus Christ in light of the Bible. I agreed to post it on this site because I believe it is written not only from an orthodox standpoint, but also with an intention of tenderness, kindness, and Christian charity, with a desire that it may it be a help to the souls of men. The writer, and myself, urge the readers to send comments to us by email in light of the letter. ~C. Matthew McMahon August 20, 2001
The Gospel According to Timothy McVeigh
By John Nolan
“I am the master of my fate, I am the captain of my soul.” Such were the chilling last words of mass-murderer Timothy McVeigh released to the public shortly before his just execution. He entered eternity embracing the malevolent arrogance of this sentiment borrowed from the words of a dead poet. This was his Gospel. Is it yours? Will you enter eternity believing that you are the master of your destiny? It sounds preposterous, right?
How can man be the master of his destiny? Does the Word of God not say of the Sovereign LORD, “He doeth according to His will in the army of heaven, and among the inhabitants of the earth: and none can stay His hand, or say unto Him, What doest thou?” (Daniel 4:35) And again, the inspired apostle rebukes those who claim to have power over the Great Potter, “Who has resisted His will? But indeed, O man, who are you to reply against God? Will the thing formed say to him who formed it, “Why have you made me like this?” Does not the potter have power over the clay, from the same lump to make one vessel for honor and another for dishonor?” (Rom 9:19b-21). Was Timothy McVeigh really the master of his destiny? Was McVeigh the sovereign of his soul? Are you?
Sadly, many believe that they are the masters of their destinies. They believe that they make the final decision in whether they go to heaven or hell. They believe that before the foundation of the world God chose them because He saw something in them that He did not see in others. They believe that God saw their faith. Others did not have it, but they did. They make the “righteous” choice for their destiny, while others make the “unrighteous” choice and perish. They are indeed the “captains of their souls.”
Furthermore, they believe that the blood of Christ shed on the cross at Calvary did not actually save anyone, but merely made salvation possible to sinners; the final “step” in the work being theirs.
On June 24th, 2001 Dr. Norman Geisler declared these false and misleading views of salvation from the pulpit of Calvary Chapel in Ft. Lauderdale, Florida. In addition, Dr. Geisler declared that the Sovereign LORD over mankind's destiny is a “divine rapist.” At the end of his diatribe, a Calvary Chapel pastor instructed potential converts “Jesus has taken nine steps toward you, now you have to take a step toward Him.”
That one step makes men masters of their destinies in the same deluded sense that Timothy McVeigh believed he was the captain of his soul. That one step indicates that despite Christ Jesus coming into the world “to save sinners” (1 Tim 1:15) the sinners must save themselves by finishing the work that Jesus set out to accomplish. In other words, that one step turns the victorious words of Jesus from “It is finished” to “It is almost finished.”
Supposedly, the Father desires all men to be saved and gives His Son to die for those whom He knows will not take that “final step” and “become saved” anyway. His will for all men to “get saved” is thwarted by the powerful will of mere men. Man has power and sovereignty over his destiny. In this view, God only has enough sovereignty over these “inhabitants of the earth” to make salvation possible, but He cannot actually save one of them without their consent. If God oversteps this boundary He is committing “divine rape” on the sovereign man.
In the past year two elders at Calvary Chapel Ft. Lauderdale have stepped down because they no longer believed they were the masters of their destinies, the sovereigns of their souls. Instead, they embraced the biblical view of God's sovereign reign over all things including the destinies of men. They humbly embraced what the Scriptures said about them: that they had been born walking “according to this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, the spirit who now works in the sons of disobedience...fulfilling the desires of the flesh and of the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, just as the others.”(Eph 2:2) They embraced the Bible's teaching that God chose to save them, not because of something that God saw in them, but because of His sovereign will and free grace.
There is more to this than a historic debate. This is not about Calvinists and Arminians. The issues presented by Dr. Geisler, the Calvary Chapel pulpit, and this article, are concerned with the heart of the Gospel of Jesus Christ.
How has sin affected man? Can man save himself from the power of sin and free himself from the power of Satan? What has the Holy Trinity accomplished to save lost sinners? Why are some saved and not others? These are some of the questions being discussed. Some say it is a divisive topic. Indeed, it is.
The Gospel is like a sword which divides. The Gospel divides the wheat from the chaff. The preaching of the Gospel is to some a stumbling block and to others the power of God unto salvation. (1 Cor 1:23-24) The Lord Jesus Christ warned that even families would be divided over Him. But is this our goal - to divide? To divide and ostracize brethren from one another is certainly not the goal of this article. The unity of the body of Christ in the bond of peace, in the context of Ephesians 4, is the goal. Does not doctrine divide though? Yes, but that does not seem to matter to the apostle Paul. Consider his inspired words. He said that apostles, prophets, evangelists, pastors, and teachers are given to the church to bring in “the unity of the faith” (v.13) in order that the church would not be tossed about by false doctrine propagated by false teachers (v. 14).
The purpose of this article is to straighten the crooked path that Dr. Geisler has created. He has led those he preached to recently at Calvary Chapel Ft. Lauderdale, and the Calvary Chapel community at large, down this crooked path. It is paved with false views of the Gospel, and even blasphemous statements concerning God. I realize this is a strong statement. But indeed, it is in regard to the thrice Holy Jehovah being called a “rapist” from the pulpit of Calvary Chapel that compel me to make this assertion.
Now, Let us be good Bereans (Acts 17:11) and first briefly measure Dr. Geisler's preaching on the doctrine of sin by God's Word. Is the doctrine of sin an important teaching to understand? Not only is it important, but we will see why it is crucial to this topic.
By John Nolan
“I am the master of my fate, I am the captain of my soul.” Such were the chilling last words of mass-murderer Timothy McVeigh released to the public shortly before his just execution. He entered eternity embracing the malevolent arrogance of this sentiment borrowed from the words of a dead poet. This was his Gospel. Is it yours? Will you enter eternity believing that you are the master of your destiny? It sounds preposterous, right?
How can man be the master of his destiny? Does the Word of God not say of the Sovereign LORD, “He doeth according to His will in the army of heaven, and among the inhabitants of the earth: and none can stay His hand, or say unto Him, What doest thou?” (Daniel 4:35) And again, the inspired apostle rebukes those who claim to have power over the Great Potter, “Who has resisted His will? But indeed, O man, who are you to reply against God? Will the thing formed say to him who formed it, “Why have you made me like this?” Does not the potter have power over the clay, from the same lump to make one vessel for honor and another for dishonor?” (Rom 9:19b-21). Was Timothy McVeigh really the master of his destiny? Was McVeigh the sovereign of his soul? Are you?
Sadly, many believe that they are the masters of their destinies. They believe that they make the final decision in whether they go to heaven or hell. They believe that before the foundation of the world God chose them because He saw something in them that He did not see in others. They believe that God saw their faith. Others did not have it, but they did. They make the “righteous” choice for their destiny, while others make the “unrighteous” choice and perish. They are indeed the “captains of their souls.”
Furthermore, they believe that the blood of Christ shed on the cross at Calvary did not actually save anyone, but merely made salvation possible to sinners; the final “step” in the work being theirs.
On June 24th, 2001 Dr. Norman Geisler declared these false and misleading views of salvation from the pulpit of Calvary Chapel in Ft. Lauderdale, Florida. In addition, Dr. Geisler declared that the Sovereign LORD over mankind's destiny is a “divine rapist.” At the end of his diatribe, a Calvary Chapel pastor instructed potential converts “Jesus has taken nine steps toward you, now you have to take a step toward Him.”
That one step makes men masters of their destinies in the same deluded sense that Timothy McVeigh believed he was the captain of his soul. That one step indicates that despite Christ Jesus coming into the world “to save sinners” (1 Tim 1:15) the sinners must save themselves by finishing the work that Jesus set out to accomplish. In other words, that one step turns the victorious words of Jesus from “It is finished” to “It is almost finished.”
Supposedly, the Father desires all men to be saved and gives His Son to die for those whom He knows will not take that “final step” and “become saved” anyway. His will for all men to “get saved” is thwarted by the powerful will of mere men. Man has power and sovereignty over his destiny. In this view, God only has enough sovereignty over these “inhabitants of the earth” to make salvation possible, but He cannot actually save one of them without their consent. If God oversteps this boundary He is committing “divine rape” on the sovereign man.
In the past year two elders at Calvary Chapel Ft. Lauderdale have stepped down because they no longer believed they were the masters of their destinies, the sovereigns of their souls. Instead, they embraced the biblical view of God's sovereign reign over all things including the destinies of men. They humbly embraced what the Scriptures said about them: that they had been born walking “according to this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, the spirit who now works in the sons of disobedience...fulfilling the desires of the flesh and of the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, just as the others.”(Eph 2:2) They embraced the Bible's teaching that God chose to save them, not because of something that God saw in them, but because of His sovereign will and free grace.
There is more to this than a historic debate. This is not about Calvinists and Arminians. The issues presented by Dr. Geisler, the Calvary Chapel pulpit, and this article, are concerned with the heart of the Gospel of Jesus Christ.
How has sin affected man? Can man save himself from the power of sin and free himself from the power of Satan? What has the Holy Trinity accomplished to save lost sinners? Why are some saved and not others? These are some of the questions being discussed. Some say it is a divisive topic. Indeed, it is.
The Gospel is like a sword which divides. The Gospel divides the wheat from the chaff. The preaching of the Gospel is to some a stumbling block and to others the power of God unto salvation. (1 Cor 1:23-24) The Lord Jesus Christ warned that even families would be divided over Him. But is this our goal - to divide? To divide and ostracize brethren from one another is certainly not the goal of this article. The unity of the body of Christ in the bond of peace, in the context of Ephesians 4, is the goal. Does not doctrine divide though? Yes, but that does not seem to matter to the apostle Paul. Consider his inspired words. He said that apostles, prophets, evangelists, pastors, and teachers are given to the church to bring in “the unity of the faith” (v.13) in order that the church would not be tossed about by false doctrine propagated by false teachers (v. 14).
The purpose of this article is to straighten the crooked path that Dr. Geisler has created. He has led those he preached to recently at Calvary Chapel Ft. Lauderdale, and the Calvary Chapel community at large, down this crooked path. It is paved with false views of the Gospel, and even blasphemous statements concerning God. I realize this is a strong statement. But indeed, it is in regard to the thrice Holy Jehovah being called a “rapist” from the pulpit of Calvary Chapel that compel me to make this assertion.
Now, Let us be good Bereans (Acts 17:11) and first briefly measure Dr. Geisler's preaching on the doctrine of sin by God's Word. Is the doctrine of sin an important teaching to understand? Not only is it important, but we will see why it is crucial to this topic.
posted by Gadfly J @ 4:58 PM
3 comments
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3 Comments:
Luke 6:27-36
And when Moses lifted the serpent... did God sovereignly make those healed look upon the serpent?
My bible says... God delights in mercy, nowhere can I find mercy in this post. When God commands believers to show mercy to all, how can God show mercy to a select few?
Funny how you give no biblical proof. Apparently you need to read your bible a little closer.
By the way, this is how God can show mercy to the few:
For He says to Moses, "I WILL HAVE MERCY ON WHOM I HAVE MERCY, AND I WILL HAVE COMPASSION ON WHOM I HAVE COMPASSION." ~Romans 9:15
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