John Calvin and His Unsound Doctrine

Calvinism Is Not The Gospel

Charles Spurgeon claimed, “Calvinism is the gospel, and nothing else.” The Gospel? Good luck finding it in 1 Corinthians 15:1-6. The gospel is for whosoever (John 11:25-27; Acts 10:43).

Romans 10:13, “For whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved.”

John 3:15–16, ” That whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have eternal life. For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.”

Revelation 22:17, “And the Spirit and the bride say, Come. And let him that heareth say, Come. And let him that is athirst come. And whosoever will, let him take the water of life freely.”

The Calvinist does not believe this and teaches that God will save whom He wants to be saved. The problem is that God does not want anyone to go to hell.

2 Peter 3:9, “The Lord is not slack concerning his promise, as some men count slackness; but is longsuffering to us-ward, not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance.”

They will say that you can’t come unless the Father draws you (John 6:33) in an effort to throw out all the verses that clearly say whosoever, all, etc. This will not work for them either because Jesus said in John 12:32, “And I, if I be lifted up from the earth, will draw all men unto me.”

Two Philosophers

God warns us to beware of man’s philosophies in Colossians 2:8, “Beware lest any man spoil you through philosophy and vain deceit, after the tradition of men, after the rudiments of the world, and not after Christ.”

Rather than building upon the Scriptures, Calvinism is built upon philosophical nonsense. Because of this, they have to wrap it in “enticing words of man’s wisdom” (1 Corinthians 2:4-5). Just like an evolutionary scientist cannot come out and say what he believes in simple, plain language because of how stupid and foolish it would sound, the Calvinist cannot and will not come out and say what he really believes in plain, simple language. That way, he can sound smart while teaching absolutely unscriptural nonsense. Here are the two philosophers the Calvinist system is built upon.

  1. John Calvin
  2. Augustine

Two Councils (the Scriptures give a very negative view of councils)

  • The Canon of Dort
  • The Westminster Confession of Faith

Read your New Testament. The Holy Spirit shows so much contempt for the council of the Jews that He does not even once mention the council’s name (the Sanhedrin). Councils are about men overthrowing the authority of the word of God and establishing themselves as the final authority over believers. They set up themselves as the final authority instead of the written word overthrowing the priesthood of the individual believer (1 Peter 2:9; Revelation 1:5-6) and establish themselves as the authority over your faith through their private interpretations (2 Peter 1:20). This is precisely the kind of thing that is condemned when Jesus calls them Nicolaitins (means to conquer/rule over the people) saying He hates their deeds and doctrine (Revelation 2:6, 15).

  1. Calvin’s hero was Augustine, and he followed his teachings.
    • Calvin wrote, “Augustine is so wholly with me, that if I wished to write a confession of my faith, I could do so with all fulness and satisfaction to myself out of his writings.”
    • Augustine is referred to as “the first real Roman Catholic.”
    • “There is scarcely a single Roman Catholic dogma which is historically intelligible without reference to his teaching.”1 This includes worship and prayer to Mary, to saints, and the whole nine yards.
    • Augustine was the “first true Predestinarian.”2
    • Augustine believed in the allegorical method of interpreting the Bible from Origen and the Alexandrian school. This means he did not really believe the Bible but took it all figuratively.
    • In othe words, Calvin’s philosophy is founded on Augustine, not the Bible
  2. John Calvin was a Nicolaitan. Jesus said he hates their deeds and doctrine (Revelation 2:6, 15).
    • Nicolaitans are those who conquer and rule over the laity.
    • Calvin is referred to as “the Protestant pope of a pope hating people.”
    • He ruled Geneva in some attempt to have the church reign over the literal kingdom of heaven just like the Roman Catholic Church and the Muslims.
    • So naturally, since he was reigning on earth himself, he denied the literal millennial reign of the Lord Jesus Christ. He was referred to as “the Genevese dictator.”3
    • He banished Anabaptists from Geneva for their theological views.
    • He would burn you at the stake if you did not agree with him doctrinally.
    • He jailed and punished people for all kinds of reasons, like not naming their children approved names, etc.
  3. He believed in Baptismal regeneration.
    • He believed in sprinkling babies.
    • Calvin believed non-elect babies go to hell.
  4. He believed that Jesus died only for some men and not others.
    • He taught God purposefully damned sinners before they were born, and “elected” them to hell by making sure not one drop of Christ’s blood was shed for them.
    • He denied that all sinners have the capacity to repent and believe in Jesus Christ.
    • He taught that conversion begins with the new birth without the convert believing the gospel, but that believing came after the sinner was saved against his will.

The Philosophy Called Calvinism

This is a product of philosophy and theology. It is NOT the result of taking Scripture in context and comparing Scripture with Scripture. The main points of Calvinism are summed up in the acronym TULIP:

T – Total Depravity

U – Unconditional Election

L – Limited Atonement

I – Irresistible Grace

P – Perseverance of the SaintsWhat is said: Depravity means “moral corruption.” The depravity of man is a Biblical doctrine and is used as a smokescreen to cover up what they are really referring to. This is why they add the word “total” to the beginning.

What is meant: Total depravity to a Calvinist has nothing to do with man’s sinful nature or fallen condition, although they emphasize these truths. What a Calvinist really believes is Total Inability. This means that a man has no ability to freely believe and receive Jesus Christ.

They arrive at this by denying man has a free will (also spelled as “freewill”), which the Bible plainly teaches. So the belief is that the GRACE of God over-powers the will of those pre-chosen to be saved and saves them without their believing or using their will. This overlooks the conscience and the law of God written in the heart of man (Romans 2:14-15).

The bottom line is that Calvinism teaches that man is totally incapable of believing the gospel or choosing Jesus as Savior. Read that statement again. Where do you get that out of the Bible? You see why these philosophers have to use “enticing words of men’s wisdom” (1 Corinthians 2:4-5)

God’s decree was that Nineveh would be destroyed in forty days. Was it?

Jonah 3:4–5, “And Jonah began to enter into the city a day’s journey, and he cried, and said, Yet forty days, and Nineveh shall be overthrown. So the people of Nineveh believed God, and proclaimed a fast, and put on sackcloth, from the greatest of them even to the least of them.”

These Ninevites had not been taught Calvin’s total inability and eternal decrees. As a result, they believed God, and God changed his decree (Jonah 3-4).

Unconditional Election – Has To Do With God CHOOSING Heaven Or Hell Before They Were Born

What is said: Unconditional election is God choosing people for Heaven and hell in eternity past before they were born. Some were created for destruction.

What is meant: This is based upon a perversion of the Biblical terms of election and predestination. In Calvinism, everything that happens is based upon God’s “eternal decrees” from eternity past. This makes God the author of sin.

So, Mr. Calvin, everything is eternally decreed before the foundation of the world? How do you explain God saying this (maybe God hadn’t read Calvin’s books yet)?

Jeremiah 19:3–5, “And say, Hear ye the word of the Lord, O kings of Judah, and inhabitants of Jerusalem; Thus saith the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel; Behold, I will bring evil upon this place, the which whosoever heareth, his ears shall tingle. Because they have forsaken me, and have estranged this place, and have burned incense in it unto other gods, whom neither they nor their fathers have known, nor the kings of Judah, and have filled this place with the blood of innocents; They have built also the high places of Baal, to burn their sons with fire for burnt offerings unto Baal, which I commanded not, nor spake it, neither came it into my mind:”

Predestination has to do with God pre-determining that everyone who gets saved (“in him”) will be conformed to the image of His Son. This is plainly dealing with the believer receiving a glorified body at the rapture. Read the ONLY two passages in the Bible that use the word predestinate(d) in Ephesians 1:3-14 and Romans 8:18-32). Romans 8:23 defines “adoption, to wit, the redemption of our body.” See also 1 John 3:1-3 and 1 Corinthians 15:51-28.

Limited Atonement – Has To Do With Jesus ONLY DYING FOR THE ELECT

What is said: Jesus died only for the elect.

What is meant: Jesus did not pay the price for the sin of the whole world, but only for those preselected and created for life. Is this what Jesus meant by John 3:16?

1 Timothy 2:5–6, “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.”

The Calvinist does not believe this or any verse like it. It is just like showing a Jehovah’s Witness what God says about hell. It doesn’t matter what Jesus and the Holy Ghost say; they have their beliefs. They will make a liar out of God every time. However, God is not the one who is lying (Romans 3:4; Titus 1:2; Hebrews 6:18).

Election has to do with foreknowledge. God proves He is God by prophecy. He is eternal (Revelation 4:8) and knows everything. This is how He proves He is God to the exclusion of all else (Isaiah 41:22-23; 42:8-9; 43:18-21; 44:6-8; 44:28-45:25; 46:9-10; 47; 48:3-7). How does God knowing everything past, present, and future, remove man’s free will and invalidate all his offers for whosoever? It doesn’t. The Bible does not have contradictions, but it will certainly contradict Calvin’s philosophy.

Calvinists try to use Romans 9:10-13 which is referring back to Genesis 25:20-23 with Esau and Isaac back in Rebekah’s womb. So although the children were born when the prophecy “The elder shhall serve the younger” was given, nothing took place before the foundation of the world. And not only does the text NOT say “the elder shall be lost and the younger shall be saved,” Esau as an individual never served Jacob; the very opposite happened (Genesis 33:3, 5, 8, 11). The “purpose of God according to election” (Romans 9:11) had nothing to do with individual salvation or reprobation at all. It concerned the Messianic line of Abraham – Isaac – Jacob – Jesus Christ. Ignoring this and force fitting this onto the topic of individual salvation certainly creates a problem. Because Israel was ELECT (Isaiah 45:4) and CHOSEN (Isaiah 44:1), and yet many of them are going to HELL (Romans 11:28), because they have not received Jesus Christ (John 1:10-12). What a mess Calvinism creates.

Most Calvinists will not abandon their position no matter what. They will point to Pharoah in Romans 9 without looking at the chapters it refers to in Exodus. If they had, they would have read in Exodus 5:2, ”And Pharaoh said, Who is the Lord, that I should obey his voice to let Israel go? I know not the Lord, neither will I let Israel go.” Pharoah rejected God first, and God responded in kind, just like what you read of God’s dealings with men in Romans 1:18-32.

Irresistible Grace – Has To Do With God’s Grace Overpowering The Chosen

What is said: Irresistible grace is the Holy Spirit working against the will of man and forcing them to be changed from evil to good people.

What is meant: This assumes that God’s will cannot be resisted (despite tons of Scripture pointing out the opposite). According to Calvin’s tale, everything in history is predetermined (predestined) to happen.

Matthew 23:37, “O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, thou that killest the prophets, and stonest them which are sent unto thee, how often would I have gathered thy children together, even as a hen gathereth her chickens under her wings, and ye would not!“

Oops, how did Jesus make such a tragic blunder? How was Emmanual “God with us” ignorant of how He overpowers their will? Obviously, Calvin is wrong again.

Perseverance of the Saints – Has To Do With You Justifying Yourself By Your Good Works, Meaning Absolutely No Eternal Security

What is said: God perseveres in keeping the believer saved, and the believer perseveres outwardly in the faith. According to Calvinists:

  1. The saints will persevere in the faith.
  2. Only those who persevere in the faith are true Christians.
  3. Those who do not persevere in the faith are lost.
  4. Real Christians will return to the faith before their demise.
  5. Those who do not return to the faith were never saved.

What is meant: The main emphasis is that those who are truly saved will persevere to the end in the faith. What they really mean by “persevere in the faith” is summed up well by Calvinist Robert L. Shank:

  1. Sincere faith in Jesus Christ
  2. Honoring Christ as Lord and keeping his commandments
  3. Walking after the example of Christ
  4. Loving the Father and his will rather than the world
  5. Habitually practicing righteousness rather than sin
  6. Love for the brethren
  7. Consciousness of the indwelling presence of the Holy Spirit

In other words, it is works salvation through the back door. Read that list again. That is your works from 2 to 7. If what Calvinists say is true, you are JUSTIFIED (declared righteous) by YOUR WORKS! But God clearly says the oppossite (Ephesians 2:8-9).

Galatians 2:16, “Knowing that a man is not justified by the works of the law, but by the faith of Jesus Christ, even we have believed in Jesus Christ, that we might be justified by the faith of Christ, and not by the works of the law: for by the works of the law shall no flesh be justified.”

Notice that verse tells you not only what they knew (“Knowing”), but what they did about it (“we have believed”). They are declared righteous (“justified”) WITHOUT works. If you justify yourself, you will go to HELL (Ephesians 2:8-9). If you trust in Jesus, Who justifies the UNGODLY, you are going to heaven (Romans 3:19-28; 4:4-5).

Romans 4:4–5, “Now to him that worketh is the reward not reckoned of grace, but of debt. But to him that worketh not, but believeth on him that justifieth the ungodly, his faith is counted for righteousness.”

Calvin’s wild teaching of perseverance of the saints also denies the possibility of carnal Christians (even though there are – 1 Corinthians 3:1, “And I, brethren, could not speak unto you as unto spiritual, but as unto carnal, even as unto babes in Christ.”).

In the Bible, salvation is one thing, and discipleship is another (1 Corinthians 3:1; 2 Peter 3:18; Hebrews 5:11-14). Being a child, born again of the Spirit into the family of God, is a different topic than behavior as a child (Hebrews 12:5-9).

Reading the list of seven things involved in a Calvinist’s view of the perseverance of the saints shows why their system allows for no real eternal security. Spurgeon and Calvin can both be shown to have doubts and hope that they were part of the elect.

“The only difference between a Calvinist and an Arminian when it comes to assurance is that the Arminian requires holiness to prove salvation while the Calvinist demands holiness to demonstrate election, which then substantiates salvation”

Or as well-known Calvinist Lorraine Boettner states:

“We can never know that we are elected of God to eternal life except by manifesting in our lives the fruits of election – faith and virtue, knowledge and temperance, patience and godliness, love of the brethren. It is idle to see assurance of election outside of holiness of life” (Predestination, p. 309).

It should be noted that this philosophy is “Lordship Salvation.” As Laurence Vance points out:

In seeking to justify their position, lordship salvation advocates do appeal to the Scripture for support. The problem, however, is that they rely almost entirely on modern versions of the Bible for their proof texts.6

The topic of Lordship Salvation requires a complete study itself. When they have to change what the Bible says to teach their doctrine, “they that are unlearned and unstable wrest, as they do also the other scriptures, unto their own destruction.” (2 Peter 3:16).

Calvin’s Lordship Salvation crowd says opponents believe in “cheap grace.” Cheap grace? In the Bible, grace is not only cheap, it is FREE!! If it is not free, it is not grace at all!

Romans 5:15, “But not as the offence, so also is the free gift. For if through the offence of one many be dead, much more the grace of God, and the gift by grace, which is by one man, Jesus Christ, hath abounded unto many.”

Results of Calvinism

  1. It kills off soul-winning.
  2. It kills off personal responsibility.
  3. It kills off missions.
  4. It kills off reconciliation (if you are not as they are, you are not elect and not saved)
  5. It kills off honesty.
  6. It kills off the gospel.
  7. It kills off sound doctrine.

How To Recognize a Calvinist.

The main weapons of Calvinism are ignorance and intimidation. They call anyone who doesn’t agree with them an Arminian and then proceed to apply every heresy to Arminians. The Bible believer is neither a Calvinist nor Arminian. Here are the words and catch phrases used by a Calvinist:

  1. “Reformed Theology”
  2. “Calvinist,” “Calvinist”
  3. “Sovereign Grace”
  4. “Common Grace”
  5. “Doctrines of Grace”
  6. Although sometimes they just hijack the word “grace.”
  7. “Providence” is used to mask a Calvinist indoctrination.
  8. “Total depravity”
  9. “Total inability”
  10. “Primitive”
  11. “Hardshell”
  12. Use of the terms predestinated, election, and chosen contrary to Scripture.
  13. The Westminster Confession
  14. Frequent reference to prominent Calvinists: John MacArthur, J.I. Packer, Author W. Pink, John Gerstner, John Piper, Albert Mohler, James Montgomery Boice

King James regarding the Synod of Dort (Unconditional Election)

“The doctrine is so horrible, that I am persuaded, if there were a council of unclean spirits assembled in hell, and their prince the devil were to put the question either to all them in general, or to each in particular, to learn their opinion about the most likely means of stirring up the hatred of man against God their Maker; nothing could be invented by them that could be more efficacious for this their purpose, or that could put a greater affront upon God’s love for mankind, than this infamous decree by the late Synod, and the decision of that detestable formulary, by which the greater part of the human race are condemned to hell for no other reason, than the mere will of God, without any regard to sin; the necessity of sinning, as well as that of being damned, being fastened on them by a great nail of the decree before-mentioned.”

Charles Wesley’s poem entitled “The Horrible Decree” puts it this way:

O Horrible Decree,

Worthy of whence it came!

Forgive their hellish blasphemy

Who charge it on the Lamb7

“The Other Side Of Calvinism”

For further study on Calvinism, I highly recommend “The Other Side Of Calvinism” by Laurence M. Vance. This book is the definitive work on the subject and is available on Amazon and from Vance Publications.

  1. The New Schaff-Herzog Encyclopedia of Religious Knowledge (Grand Rapids: Baker Book House, 1949-1950)., s.v. “Augustine,” vol. 1, p. 368.
  2. Paul K. Jewett, Election and Predestination (Grand Rapids: Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Co., 1985), p. 5.
  3. Stefan Zweig, The Right to Heresy (London: Cassell and Company, 1936), p. 107.
  4. Robert L. Shank, Life in the Son, 2nd ed. (Springfield: Westcott Publishers, 1961), p. 301-303
  5. Vance, Laurence M. The Other Side of Calvinism. Revised Ed. Orlando, FL: Vance Publications, 2014. Page 596.
  6. Ibid. 583.
  7. G. Osborn, The Poetical Works of John and Charles Wesley, Vol. III (London: Wesleyan-Methodist Conference Office, 1869), p. 34.