Faith of our Fathers

T.U.L.I.P.

The five points of Calvinism:

 Total Depravity:  Romans 3:11  

Dead in Sins?

That means simply; MAN IS DEAD.  The Bible says that you and I are dead in trespasses and sins (Ephesians 2:1-6 ) unless we are born again.  DEAD!!!  More than that, the man or woman who is dead in sin hates God, and his "carnal mind" is "emnity against God" (Romans 8:7 ).  His will is stubbornly steeled against God.  This Biblical idea changes a lot of modern talk about salvation.  Consider what that means: 

     1. Can a man do good works then, if he is not a Christian who is born again?  No, "Whatsoever is not of faith is sin" (Romans 14:23 ). 

     2.  Can a man want to be born again and follow instructions on "how to do it"?  No, for that would be like saying that a man in a grave can desire to come out of the grave, or follow instructions on how to be made alive.  It would be like trying to lure him out of the grave.  "It is the Spirit that quickeneth: the flesh profiteth nothing" (John 6:33 ). 

     3. Can any man "accept Christ" as his personal Saviour, so that he becomes saved after that? Of course not. Accepting Christ is a good work done only by a Christian . Only AFTER God makes a person alive, can he and will he accept Christ. "No man can come unto me, except the Father which hath sent me draw him" (John 6:44 ) 

     4. Can you "offer salvation" to anyone?  That is surely impossible.  One might as well offer food to a dead man than salvation to a dead sinner (Ephesians 2:1,2). 

ONLY GOD CAN MAKE US ALIVE.  AND GOD DOES THAT SOVEREIGNLY - WITHOUT OUR AID, WITHOUT OUR ASKING.  From beginning to end, "Salvation is of the Lord" (Jonah 2:9). This is the faith that we preach, because it is Biblical, because it is the FAITH of our fathers, which we love, still living in our hearts, and because it gives God all the glory!.

 Unconditional election:  John 15:16

Not My Choice

This means simply; God Chooses to give some people enternal life, without looking for anything good in them, as a condition for loving and saving them.

Before any man or woman is born - in fact, before the world was made - God decided who would go to heaven and who whould not.  Before they did anything good or bad, God chose some to be His people and rejected others.

"CONDITIONAL election" would mean that God chooses to be His those who first love and choose Him.  But the Bible says: "You have not chosen me, I have chosen you" John 15:16 . (Please also look at Romans 9:11-21).  Acts 13:48 says that "as many as were ordained to eternal life believed." Only when we speak this language is the horse before the cart.  CONDITIONAL election puts the cart before the horse, because it says that man believes and THEN is ordained to eternal life.  Read carefully John 10:26 for another plain "horse before the cart" passage. Can one imagine what the denial of this doctrine would mean?  If we remember that before we are saved, we can do nothing good (John 15:5 ; Ephesians 2:1-6 ), the only conclusion is that we could never choose God.  And never would.  And never would be saved.

But God is sovereign and chooses whom He will choose.  And after He chooses us, we choose Him daily.  All we are and all we have is given us by God.

Again, this is the faith that we preach, because it is Biblical, because it is the faith of our fathers, living still in our hearts, and because it gives God all the glory!!!

 Limited atonement:  John 10:15 

For All Men?

This great gospel message that so many today are urgently carrying to distant lands is that Christ made atonement with His death.  But there are two critical points at which this message is so severely distorted that it no longer carries the gospel message.

 Irresistible grace:  John 6:37

Dragged Kicking & Screaming to Heaven?

The fourth Biblical truth in the five points of Calvinism teaches the God's grace to save a person cannot be resisted.  Grace is God's free and unmerited power to save a person from his sins which would otherwise lead us to hell.  Grace brings him to heaven who naturally would end in enteral hell.

 Perseverance of the saints:  1 Peter 1:5 Living Like The Devil?

The last of the five points of Calvinism teaches that God preserves His people so they can never be lost.  To put it simply, it means this: "Once you are saved, you are always saved."