Frances Turretin: God Hates Those Appointed to Destruction

I find it strange that the promoters of semi-Arminianism and common grace try to quote Frances Turretin in their favor.  I read him just the opposite.  In his remarks on natural theology Turretin says the following:

VI.  It is one thing to allow some knowledge of God as Creator and preserver however imperfect, corrupt and obscure; another to have a full, entire and clear knowledge of God as Redeemer and of the lawful worship due to him. Natural theology has the former in that which may be known of God (gnosto tou Theou).  Revelation alone has the latter in the faith (to pisto) which is gained only from the word.  Nor (if God has not left himself without witness [amartyron] in nature by doing good to men as to temporal things [ta biotika, Acts 14:17] which he often bestows upon those whom he hates and has devoted to destruction) does it follow that the external calling is objectively sufficient for salvation because it is said "he suffered the nations to walk in their own ways" (Acts 14:16) and it is called that "time of ignorance" (Acts 17:30, referring plainly to a defect in the external calling because he opposes it to the time of the New Testament in which he calls men to repentance by the word).

Frances Turretin.  Institutes of Elenctic Theology, Vol. 1.  George Musgrave Giger, translator.  James T. Dennison, Jr., ed.  (Phillipsburg: Baker, 1997).  Pp. 117-118.

Turretin wrote in Latin so his sentences are often long and convoluted.  The editor put some of the incomplete sentences into parentheses to indicate the sentence fragment or incomplete clause.  In an earlier section Turretin says that natural revelation leads to natural religion because there is an innate knowledge of God in man due to the image of God in all men.  But this innate knowledge is insufficient to lead to saving faith.  Although Turretin does not say this, it follows that even atheists have some knowledge of God though they suppress the truth in unrighteousness.  (Romans 1:18-21).  Getting the atheist to admit this is another matter. 

The reader will also note that Turretin nowhere refers to common grace in this passage.  What he does say is that God's goodness to men is temporal but their final destiny is certain because God hates them and has "devoted" them "to destruction."  In short, providence means that any gifts God gives to mankind through natural revelation is meant to harden them because they are vessels of destruction.

Does God Tempt Elect Believers or Reprobate Unbelievers?

"But notwithstanding this, God may when he sees fit deliver us to Satan, abandon us to a reprobate mind and lustful concupiscence, and in this manner ‘lead us into temptation’ by a righteous judgment as a punishment of our sinful self-indulgence . . ."  W. G. T. Shedd

"But though I should confess a hundred times that God is the author of it—which is very true—yet they do not promptly cleanse away the guilt that, engraved upon their consciences, repeatedly meets their eyes."  John Calvin

". . . so for curious and carnal persons, lacking the Spirit of Christ, to have continually before their eyes the sentence of God's Predestination is a most dangerous downfall, whereby the devil doth thrust them either into desperation or into wretchlessness of most unclean living no less perilous than desperation."  Archbishop Thomas Cranmer.  39 Articles of Religion:  Article 17:  Of Predestination and Election.

 

2 Thessalonians 2:11–12 (NKJV)

¹¹ And for this reason God will send them strong delusion, that they should believe the lie, ¹² that they all may be condemned who did not believe the truth but had pleasure in unrighteousness.

I am the first to admit that I have often erred in my past theological views and my understanding of the Bible.  I was an Arminian for many years.  On my blog I have tried not to delete past articles where I have erred or made erroneous statements.  Instead I have posted addendums with dates to show that I have corrected my errors.  Understanding the system of propositional revelation in the Bible can be difficult when we neglect to compare Scripture with Scripture and to think systematically.  It is to be noted that all the parts, all the verses of Scripture fit together into a system of theologically consistent truth.  None of the verses of Scripture can be isolated into stand alone aggregates or pebbles of truth.  All Scripture is inspired of God and all the Scriptures are profitable for doctrine (2 Timothy 3:16).  Furthermore, the Scriptures cannot be broken (John 10:35).

Having said that, it is often stated that God is not the author of man's sins.  This is in fact what the Westminster Confession of Faith clearly states:

Chapter V.  Of Providence

4.      The almighty power, unsearchable wisdom, and infinite goodness of God so far manifest themselves in His providence, that it extendeth itself even to the first fall, and all other sins of angels and men; (Rom. 11:32–34, 2 Sam. 24:1, 1 Chron. 21:1, 1 Kings 22:22–23, 1 Chron. 10:4, 13–14, 2 Sam. 16:10, Acts 2:23) and that not by a bare permission, (Acts 14:16) but such as hath joined with it a most wise and powerful bounding, (Ps. 76:10, 2 Kings 19:28) and otherwise ordering, and governing of them, in a manifold dispensation, to His own holy ends; (Gen. 50:20, Isa. 10:6–7, 12) yet so, as the sinfulness thereof proceedeth only from the creature, and not from God, who, being most holy and righteous, neither is nor can be the author or approver of sin. (James 1:13–14, 17, 1 John 2:16, Ps. 50:21)

The Westminster Confession of Faith (Oak Harbor, WA: Logos Research Systems, Inc., 1996).

But notice that not only does the WCF say that God is not the author or approver of sins but that "providence extendeth itself even to the first fall, and all other sins of angels and men."  In short, the idea that God loves the reprobate is absolutely refuted by the Westminster Confession.  The neo-Calvinist doctrines of common grace, the well meant offer of salvation, and the free offer of the Gospel are refuted by the system of truth revealed in Scripture and summarized in the Westminster Confession of Faith.  God so orders and governs all things such that all things work for the damnation of the reprobate.  This is clear because  providence works to the destruction of the reprobate.  We can deduce this from the fact that providence extendeth itself to all sins of men.    That would include the sin of unbelief and refusing to obey the Gospel, which inevitably results in eternal condemnation and eternal judgment (2 Thess. 1:8; 1 Pet. 4:17; 1 Peter 2:8; Romans 2:8; Isaiah 66:15; Matthew 25:41).

It should not be a strange thing to understand that it is our own depravity that causes us to sin.  Both the elect and the reprobate do sin.  Even after regeneration and conversion elect believers will sin, though not habitually.  Our habits are changed.  When we do sin, we are completely and entirely responsible and accountable to God for our sins and we are the direct cause of our own sins.  However, that does not mean that God is not the ultimate cause of all things, including all the sins of angels and men.  That's because God has only one eternally unchanging will.  His eternal decrees are secret to us until they are brought to pass in real time (Deuteronomy 29:29).  But we are not excused from obeying God's revealed precepts in the moral law and the Holy Scriptures simply because we do not know what God has purposed from all eternity in His divine decree.  God knows the end from the beginning and has ordained all things that come to pass (Isaiah 46:9-11; Ephesians 1:11).

Some will accuse me of hyper-Calvinism because of what I have said here.  But if so, then I am in good company with a host of Reformed theologians, including W. G. T. Shedd who said:

“The temptations of God are widely different from those of Satan. Satan tempts to overthrow, condemn, confound, and destroy. But God that, by proving his people, he may make a trial of their sincerity, to confirm their strength by exercising it, to mortify, purify, and refine their flesh, which without such restraints would run into the greatest excesses. [sic]. Besides, Satan attacks persons unarmed and unprepared, to overwhelm the unwary. ‘God, with the temptation, always makes a way to escape, that they may be able to bear’ whatever he brings upon them (1 Cor. 10:13). To some there appears a difficulty in our petition to God that he will not lead us into temptation, whereas, according to James, it is contrary to his nature for him to tempt us (James 1:13-14). But this objection has already been partly answered, because our own lust is properly the cause of all the temptations that seduce and overcome us. Nor does James intend any other than to assert the injustice of transferring to God the tempting concupiscence which we are bound to impute to ourselves because we are conscious of being guilty of it. But notwithstanding this, God may when he sees fit deliver us to Satan, abandon us to a reprobate mind and lustful concupiscence, and in this manner ‘lead us into temptation’ by a righteous judgment as a punishment of our sinful self-indulgence (Rom. 1:24,26, 28).”

Shedd, William G. (2011-07-19). Dogmatic Theology (Kindle Locations 21270-21279). P&R Publishing. Kindle Edition.

  Dr. Gordon H. Clark in his commentary on 1 Corinthians 10:13 says the following:

Some people wish to say that God does not "make" or send the temptation; He only "permits" it:  what He "makes" is the way to escape.  The motivation in distinguishing permission from making is to avoid compromising God's holiness.  Somehow the idea of God's permitting evil without decreeing it seems to absolve God from the charge that He is the "author" of sin, but one must be careful, both with respect to the logic of the argument and to the full scriptural data.  God "permitted" Satan to afllict Job; but since Satan could not have done so without God's approval, the idea of permission hardly exonerates God.  Is perfect holiness any more compatible with approving and permitting Satanic evil?  If God could have prevented, not only Job's trials, but all the other sins and temptations to which mankind is subject--is He less reprehensible than if He positively decreed them?  If a man could save a baby from a burning house, but decided to "permit" the baby to burn, who would dare say that he was morally perfect in so deciding?  Furthermore, the present verse says, "God will make with the temptation also the way of escape."  It is clear therefore that God makes both.  The term "permission" is nothing more than a literary device for describing God's use of created agents.  Otherwise, there is no difference between a permit and a decree. 

Gordon H. Clark,  First Corinthinans:  A Contemporary Commentary.  1975.  Second Edition.  (Jefferson:  Trinity Foundation, 1991).  Pp. 156-157.

God is not the direct author of sin just as He is not the author of what I am writing here in this blog.  I am its author and I am writing this.  But ultimately it is God who is the author of all things, including my existence, my thoughts, and my words.  I am not here claiming that what I write is divinely inspired or that I am infallible.  I am not a robot since I am not a biological machine or puppet.  I am a body and a spirit that together constitutes a soul.  And since God is the cause of all things, whatever I have said or done in my life is ultimately caused by God by His divine decree.  We are all capable of genuine choices because we have the natural ability through the intellect and the will to think and decide to do nor not do certain things.  God holds us accountable for our sins and for our obedience.  We do cooperate with God's grace in sanctification but even this is caused by God (Philippians 2:11-12).

Now, permission may distinguish an indirect causation from a direct causation, but permission as a substitute for decree does not solve the problem of maintaining God's holiness.  Calvin's Institutes III xxiii 8 is far more satisfactory.  Calvin preserves the idea of God's sovereignty.  He makes it clear that God is the Creator and therefore the first cause of all things that exist, that He governs all His creatures and all their actions.  Calvin repudiates the permissive theologians' idea of a finite deity.  Thus, if God is infinite, any decree He makes is holy for the simple reason that He, the sovereign, makes it. 

Gordon H. Clark, Ibid.  P. 158.

God is not a man.  He is the Creator.  Whatever God does is right for the simple reason that He is an infinitely holy God.  Therefore, even when God ordains the fall and all other sins that proceed from the fall, He remains a holy God.  To accuse God of wrong doing is blasphemy of the Holy Spirit.  To say that God could do nothing about the sins of angels and men is to make God a finite being and by definition not the God revealed in Holy Scripture.  [See also Calvin's Institutes III xxiii 3].

It is difficult to see how the purveyors of paradox and apparent contradictions can fail to understand that Calvin advocates a logically consistent system of theology and that the Westminster divines were equally consistent:

Calvin's Institutes:  Book III xxiii 8

8. No distinction between God’s will and God’s permission!

Here they have recourse to the distinction between will and permission. By this they would maintain that the wicked perish because God permits it, not because he so wills. But why shall we say “permission” unless it is because God so wills? Still, it is not in itself likely that man brought destruction upon himself through himself, by God’s mere permission and without any ordaining. As if God did not establish the condition in which he wills the chief of his creatures to be! I shall not hesitate, then, simply to confess with Augustine that “the will of God is the necessity of things,” and that what he has willed will of necessity come to pass, as those things which he has foreseen will truly come to pass. Now if either the Pelagians, or Manichees, or Anabaptists, or Epicureans (for on this issue we have to deal with these four sects) in excuse for themselves and for the wicked, raise by way of objection the necessity by which they are constrained because of divine predestination, they advance no argument applicable to the cause. For if predestination is nothing but the meting out of divine justice—secret, indeed, but blameless—because it is certain that they were not unworthy to be predestined to this condition, it is equally certain that the destruction they undergo by predestination is also most just. Besides, their perdition depends upon the predestination of God in such a way that the cause and occasion of it are found in themselves. For the first man fell because the Lord had judged it to be expedient; why he so judged is hidden from us. Yet it is certain that he so judged because he saw that thereby the glory of his name is duly revealed.


John Calvin, Institutes of the Christian Religion & 2, ed. John T. McNeill, trans. Ford Lewis Battles, vol. 1, The Library of Christian Classics (Louisville, KY: Westminster John Knox Press, 2011), 956–957.

It should be further noted that Calvin does say that God is the "author" of sin because God is the ultimate cause of the fall of angels and man and all sins that proceed from the fall:

Calvin's Institutes III xxiii 3

Let all the sons of Adam come forward; let them quarrel and argue with their Creator that they were by his eternal providence bound over before their begetting to everlasting calamity. What clamor can they raise against this defense when God, on the contrary, will call them to their account before him? If all are drawn from a corrupt mass, no wonder they are subject to condemnation! Let them not accuse God of injustice if they are destined by his eternal judgment to death, to which they feel—whether they will or not—that they are led by their own nature of itself. How perverse is their disposition to protest is apparent from the fact that they deliberately suppress the cause of condemnation, which they are compelled to recognize in themselves, in order to free themselves by blaming God. But though I should confess a hundred times that God is the author of it—which is very true—yet they do not promptly cleanse away the guilt that, engraved upon their consciences, repeatedly meets their eyes.

John Calvin, Institutes of the Christian Religion & 2, ed. John T. McNeill, trans. Ford Lewis Battles, vol. 1, The Library of Christian Classics (Louisville, KY: Westminster John Knox Press, 2011), 950–951.

Westminster Larger Catechism: Question 14

Question 14

How doth God execute his decrees?

God executeth his decrees in the works of creation and providence, according to his infallible foreknowledge, and the free and immutable counsel of his own will. (Eph. 1:11)


The Westminster Larger Catechism: With Scripture Proofs. (Oak Harbor, WA: Logos Research Systems, Inc., 1996).

OK, I just cannot resist the temptation to slam once again those who push the doctrine of common grace as if it were somehow a "Reformed" distinctive which was "implicitly" taught by John Calvin or at least anticipated by him.  Some scholars, like Dr. R. Scott Clark of the Heidelblog, insist that common grace is just "general" providence.  But the Larger Catechism defines God's decrees as relating to "whatsoever comes to pass," not just a "general" providence.  (See Westminster Larger Catechism, Questions 12 and 13).  Those who have a high view of human reason advocate "natural law" as the Lockean understanding of ethics and morality by which the worldly kingdom is governed and only the church is obligated to abide by God's moral law.  

R. Scott Clark seems to hold this view since he believes that natural revelation in the divine image and likeness in humans constitutes a knowledge of good and evil and is sufficient to rule the worldly kingdom.  (Cf. Romans 2:1-29; Romans 3:9-20).  Anyone reading Romans 1:18-3:20 can see that Paul is not advocating the idea that salvation is possible apart from special revelation.  The Law reveals everyone to be utterly sinful (Romans 3:23).  N. T. Wright's contention that Romans 2 refers to Christian Gentiles who keep God's law by nature flies in the face of Romans 3:9-23.  Romans 3:23 makes it clear that none are righteous and the law can only point out the lostness of all mankind (Romans 6:23; 7:7).  The Gospel is therefore only of free grace (Romans 3:20-26).

Additionally, the Westminster divines seem to hold a different opinion.  The doctrine of providence is particular and not general.  "Whatsoever comes to pass" is ordained by God, including the evil actions of nations against other nations.  That would include wars.  If war is a part of "common grace," which no Calvinist I know of would advocate, then you could say that providence is the same thing as "common grace."  Otherwise one has to question the sincerity and the deductive powers of those who say that common grace and "general" providence are the same thing.  I would never call providence a "general" providence in the first place because God is sovereign over "whatsoever comes to pass."  (WLC, Question 12).  He "unchangeably foreordains" everything that happens "in time," according to the WLC, Q12.  That's not "general" providence.  It is "particular providence."  Providence is not general anymore than the atonement is general or universal.  The doctrine of God's sovereignty means that absolutely every detail of every detail down to the most minute detail of what happens in real time is in God's control and is foreordained to happen just exactly as it comes to pass.  If you do not believe that then I would suggest that your views are more in line with Arminianism or Molinism or Semi-Pelagianism.

The bottom line here is that due to man's total corruption there is no knowledge of God or God's will and only by special revelation will human societies and nations obey God (Romans 1:18-21).  Of course, human reason maintains some vestiges of truth.  For whatever reason, God has ordained modern nations as they exist, and there is some semblance of morality evident in the criminal law codes.  But on the other hand much evil is tolerated by society today and some evil is encapsulated and sanctioned by the laws of modern nations.  The blatant endorsement of homosexuality is one example of that.  I guess, following the logic of the advocates of common grace, that civil laws which approve of civil unions and gay marriage are part of God's "common gifts" to humanity?  What a gift!  Such gifts are not gifts but are in fact evidence of God's hardening of the reprobate.  (Cf. Romans 1:18-32).  So much for common grace.  (Romans 9:11-13).

Addendum:  For a good sermon on Romans 1:18-32 click here:  Covenant Presbyterian Church

Why Lordship Salvation Is False: WCF 5:5

The Westminster Confession of Faith outright rejects John MacArthur's false teaching of Lordship Salvation and I can prove it.  MacArthur's view amounts to Arminianism or the libertarian free will view since the Bible clearly teaches that the human will is corrupted by sin and cannot obey God without God's monergistic and irresistible grace that leads to both conversion and to a process of sanctification.  God can and often does withhold His grace of sanctification in order to humble proud elect persons:

 Westminster Confession of Faith:  Chapter 5:  Of Providence.

5. The most wise, righteous, and gracious God doth oftentimes leave, for a season, His own children to manifold temptations, and the corruption of their own hearts, to chastise them for their former sins, or to discover unto them the hidden strength of corruption and deceitfulness of their hearts, that they may be humbled;1 and, to raise them to a more close and constant dependence for their support upon Himself, and to make them more watchful against all future occasions of sin, and for sundry other just and holy ends.2

---

1 2 Chron. 32:25,26,31; 2 Sam. 24:1.

2 2 Cor. 12:7,8,9; Ps. 73:1-28; Ps. 77:1,10,12; Mark 14:66-72; John 21:15,16,17.

So much for "making Jesus Lord of your life."  That statement is an outright denial of the doctrines of sovereign grace since it is God alone who saves, justifies, sanctifies, keeps and preserves His elect.  The idea that we keep ourselves is flat out synergistic and/or semi-pelagianism.  James White, Paul Washer, John MacArthur and even J.I. Packer ought to repent of their false teaching of synergism in this area.

God Knows the Future and Determines Every Detail Through His Providence

God knows every twist and turn in the road.  (Luke 9:57).

Who Knows What the Future Holds?

by Charlie J. Ray

As I listened to a lecture on predestination in the Old Testament given at Covenant College by the late Dr. Gordon H. Clark and recorded some years ago, I noted that one of the moderators joked about Dr. Clark's contention that all things that happen are predetermined right down to even our evil acts. I found it odd that a Presbyterian school would question that doctrine but the moderator made a remark that a football player thought that he and Dr. Clark had a divine appointment to meet in the parking lot after the lecture. The contention of some of the students was that God's sovereignty over everything down to the last detail would remove human responsibility. But Dr. Clark's answer was that knowledge makes human free agents accountable to God and responsible for their actions and choices—even if their actions were predetermined by God Himself. Romans 1:18-21 reveals that the Apostle Paul thought that general revelation or natural revelation did indeed give men enough knowledge about God to make them without excuse and fully accountable to God—even if salvation is impossible without special revelation (Romans 10:7-17; Acts 4:10, 12; John 5:24, 25; John 14:6; Matthew 1:21).

It seems silly to me for anyone to trust in themselves to persevere to the end. Why would I say that? Well, first of all anyone reflecting on their pre-conversion experience must acknowledge that although they had a general knowledge about God most folks think that they are just fine and good people go to heaven. So what does the Arminian have to offer in addition to that view? Pragmatically nothing at all. After all for the Arminian it is keeping God's laws—albeit a lowered standard that men can attain by their own “free will”--that ultimately decides who will go to heaven or hell. Basically a general offer of salvation and a general atonement only makes salvation a possibility for all. Since Jesus died for all then all must save themselves by believing the Arminian gospel of faith plus good works. Unfortunately even modern Lutherans are essentially Arminians since the vast majority of them no longer believe Luther's doctrine of the bondage of the will. Rather modern Lutherans believe there is a common grace given to all men without exception—this is nothing more than the semi-pelagianism of Rome masquerading as Lutheran or Reformed theology.

If God simply provides prevenient grace for all and the death of Christ for all, including those already in hell, then ultimately it is not faith in Christ that saves or even the justification of Christ that saves but it is the sinner who must save himself by working up a faith of his own. How this is possible when the Bible clearly says that sinners are spiritually dead in their trespasses and sins and are in fact slaves to sin and unable to choose Christ in the first place is indeed a mystery (Ephesians 2:1, 2, 3, 4, 5; Romans 5:8; Colossians 2:13; John 8:33, 34; Romans 6:17, 18).

Faith is itself a gift of God (Ephesians 2:8, 9). If we could give ourselves faith we would have something to boast about. But even our conversion and repentance are gifts of God, not something we do in and of ourselves (John 1:13; John 3:3-8; Acts 11:18). If common grace gave actual power to change then salvation would be universal and no one would be lost whatsoever. Salvation is not by “chance” but by God's divine degree (Proverbs 16:33). The truth is conversion is God's action upon His elect people chosen before the foundation of the world (Ephesians 1:4, 5, 11; Titus 3:5, 6, 7). If men had the ability to convert themselves who would want to go to hell? The reason they do not believe is because God has justly blinded them and rendered them unable to believe (John 12:40). A god who is unable to overcome sin and actually save anyone at all is a powerless and helpless god who is not God by any definition (Isaiah 45:20).

Trying to persuade dead men by mere reason is like trying to preach conversion and repentance in the graveyard. Dead men cannot and will not hear that the Law condemns them as unworthy sinners and justly damned to an eternity in hell. Dead men cannot and will not hear that God promises to save all who believe His Gospel and that Christ alone justifies. The catch here is that the “whosoever will” is limited to believers, not “potential” believers. Those who believe the Gospel do so because God opens their heart (Acts 16:14) and gives them repentance (Acts 11:18). Those who say that the doctrine of sovereign grace gives the reprobates an excuse that they are unable to believe have forgotten that Paul says they are without excuse (Romans 1:18, 19, 20, 21). Simply because they are commanded to believe (Mark 1:15; 16:16) but refuse to do so does not obligate God to grant them the ability to believe. Since they freely and willfully refuse and have enough knowledge from both general and special revelation they are accountable to God for their own unbelief (James 1:13, 14, 15). Only God can give good gifts to His elect and bring forth the fruit of faith and conversion (James 1:16, 17, 18; John 6:37, 44, 65).

The fact of the matter is that Scripture teaches that salvation is all of God (Exodus 14:13; 2 Chronicles 20:17; Lamentations 3:26). It is not our strength or our efforts that save us but literally God's sovereign will (Isaiah 31:1; Zechariah 4:6).

Furthermore, since God knows the future He determined it (Isaiah 46:9, 10; Deuteronomy 29:29). Nothing happens but by God's divine appointment (Hebrews 9:27). Even the crucifixion of Christ was predicted in the Old Testament (Psalm 22:1ff; Isaiah 53:1ff) and every single detail happened just as God had predetermined it, even down to Judas Iscariot and Pontius Pilate (Acts 2:22, 23; 4:27, 28). God knows His elect from before birth (Psalm 139:13, 16; Jeremiah 1:5; Galatians 1:15) and even every single thought they will think before they think it (Psalm 139:4). In fact, God knows all the days that His elect will live and the exact number of them and everything that will happen to them (Psalm 139:16).

God does not just have a general knowledge of the future or even a knowledge of many different possible outcomes. He knows exactly what will happen because in fact He determined it (1 Peter 2:8; Romans 9:11, 12, 13; Proverbs 16:33; Matthew 1:20, 21, 22, 23; John 1:47, 48). The idea that God provides a general grace that fails to save the vast majority of those it is supposed to provide salvation for is foreign to Scripture. Mere possibility is no guarantee that anyone at all will be saved. The doctrines of grace and the Scriptures, however, show that every single elect person God intended to save before creation will in fact be saved and all the sins of the elect were paid for on the tree by Jesus Himself (1 Peter 2:24; Revelation 13:8). All of the elect will be called from the four corners of the earth and it is not possible that even one of them will be deceived (Matthew 24:24, 31; Mark 13:22, 27).

It is not true that Calvinists need not evangelize because God's appointed instruments and means are the preaching of the Gospel and special revelation. Not one of the elect will be saved apart from God's normative means (Romans 10:7-17; Matthew 28:18-21). In fact famous missionaries like William Carey and Stanley Livingston were Calvinists.

The bottom line is that double predestination is a great comfort for believers because they know that the works of the law do not apply to them. All the promises of God in Christ are yes and amen! (2 Corinthians 1:20). Predestination is only discouraging for those who continually refuse to believe that they cannot earn or merit salvation and that salvation is completely a free gift of God. Those who refuse to accept that salvation is all of God thrust themselves into eternal insecurity and fear for their souls. The 39 Articles of Religion makes this doctrine clear in Article 17, which is itself drawn from the most certain warrant of Holy Scripture. (See Article 17).

God knows the obstacles ahead in the road. But nothing can separate God's elect from His love or His promises (Romans 8:28-33).

EV News :: Archbishop of Canterbury to step down December 2012

Anglo-Catholic regalia hides the liberal within.

It looks like the infamous leader of the Anglican Communion is going to step down.  Unfortunately his replacement could be worse.  As a friend of mine likes to say, "Who knows what the devil is going to do?"  Of course the answer is, "God knows!"  

Article 6 

That some receive the gift of faith from God and others do not receive it proceeds from God's eternal decree, for “known unto God are all His works from the beginning of the world” (Acts 15:18). “Who worketh all things after the counsel of His own will” (Ephesians 1:11). According to which decree, He graciously softens the hearts of the elect, however obstinate, and inclines them to believe, while He leaves the non-elect in His just judgment to their own wickedness and obduracy. And herein is especially displayed the profound, the merciful, and at the same time the righteous discrimination between men, equally involved in ruin; or that decree of election and reprobation revealed in the Word of God, which though men of perverse, impure and unstable minds wrest to their own destruction, yet to holy and pious souls affords unspeakable consolation.  (Canons of Dort, First Head of Doctrine:  Of Divine Predestination.  Article 6).

And even the Thirty-nine Articles of Religion, which is the confessional statement of the Anglican formularies, says in Article XVII:

Article XVII

Of Predestination and Election

Predestination to life is the everlasting purpose of God, whereby, before the foundations of the world were laid, He hath constantly decreed by His counsel secret to us, to deliver from curse and damnation those whom He hath chosen in Christ out of mankind, and to bring them by Christ to everlasting salvation as vessels made to honour. Wherefore they which be endued with so excellent a benefit of God be called according to God's purpose by His Spirit working in due season; they through grace obey the calling; they be justified freely; they be made sons of God by adoption; they be made like the image of His only-begotten Son Jesus Christ; they walk religiously in good works; and at length by God's mercy they attain to everlasting felicity.

As the godly consideration of Predestination and our Election in Christ is full of sweet, pleasant, and unspeakable comfort to godly persons and such as feel in themselves the working of the Spirit of Christ, mortifying the works of the flesh and their earthly members and drawing up their mind to high and heavenly things, as well because it doth greatly establish and confirm their faith of eternal salvation to be enjoyed through Christ, as because it doth fervently kindle their love towards God: so for curious and carnal persons, lacking the Spirit of Christ, to have continually before their eyes the sentence of God's Predestination is a most dangerous downfall, whereby the devil doth thrust them either into desperation or into wretchlessness of most unclean living no less perilous than desperation.

Furthermore, we must receive God's promises in such wise as they be generally set forth in Holy Scripture; and in our doings that will of God is to be followed which we have expressly declared unto us in the word of God.

Click here to read the story at Evangelical News dot Org:  EV News :: Archbishop of Canterbury to step down December 2012

When Tragedy Strikes: The Sovereignty of God in the Acts of God

My father's automobile wreck, November of 1971.  Highway 17 just north of Bowling Green, Florida.

 . . .that no one should be shaken by these afflictions; for you yourselves know that we are appointed to this. (1 Thessalonians 3:3 NKJ)

And just as it is appointed for men to die once, and after that comes judgment, (Hebrews 9:27 KJV)

Your eyes saw my unformed substance; in your book were written, every one of them, the days that were formed for me, when as yet there was none of them. (Psalm 139:16 KJV)

Probably the most traumatic experience one can go through in life is losing a loved one in a tragic accident.  While we call these events "accidents", they are in another sense not accidents at all.  These events are more properly referred to as "acts of God".  Absolutely nothing happens by accident from God's perspective.  (Proverbs 16:33).  All things are in His control and have been predetermined before creation.  (Isaiah 46:9, 10). 

It is with great difficulty I write this post.  Even after almost forty years have passed I still feel the pain of the loss of my father's life in the tragic automobile accident you see in the picture.  At the time I was only twelve-years-old.  My mother was left a widow with seven young children, and I am the eldest.

I cannot say with any certainty if my father went home to be with the Lord or if his soul now suffers in everlasting torment and awaiting the great day of judgment.  (Revelation 20:11-15; John 5:27-29; 2 Peter 2:4-9).   Although I know my father did read the Bible occasionally, he never attended church during that first twelve years of my life.  He was apt to curse when angry.  But none of this means that Dad was not elect of God.  It simply means I cannot know for sure, which is a sad state of affairs.  From all that I know it is most likely that he was not saved.

The question for those left behind is often, "Why, Lord?"  I was certainly not perfect at age twelve.  But I had been to several churches, including Southern Baptist, Pentecostal, and a local Presbyterian church, which separated from the Presbyterian Church USA in later years to join with the Presbyterian Church in America (PCA).  I read the Bible and prayed often but never joined a church nor was I baptized.  My parents refused to allow me to be baptized when I accepted an altar call at age six or seven at a Church of God service in Weaver, Alabama.  That decision was probably a good thing, although at the time I resented not being allowed to be baptized.

Neither of my parents were church members, nor did they teach us the Bible or pray over meals with us children.  My mother had been raised in the Primitive Baptist faith, which does not emphasize Bible study or discipleship.  She was and is therefore not knowledgeable in the Scriptures.  I do not know much about my father's religious training other than that he read the Proverbs.  He once encouraged me to read Proverbs 1 when discussing male and female relationships.

After my father's death in November of 1971 I became angry with God.  Why did this have to happen to our family?  We were poor already.  My father and mother worked hard to support the family.  That anger led to many years of rebellion against God.

In God's sovereignty when I did return to church and rededicate my life to Christ it was in the context of a false church and a false religion, namely Pentecostalism.  But that is another post for another day.

The short answer is that in the end my father's death served to prove to me that God is in control of all that happens.  All things both good and bad work for the good of God's elect (Romans 8:28-32). 

I regret that this is not a long and detailed theological discussion.  But I just wanted my readers to know that suffering in this life is often for our own good.  God knows exactly what He's doing to us and for us.  And it is all for His own glory!  Absolutely nothing happens "by accident".   (Proverbs 16:33; Acts 17:28).

What if God, desiring to show his wrath and to make known his power, has endured with much patience vessels of wrath prepared for destruction, 23 in order to make known the riches of his glory for vessels of mercy, which he has prepared beforehand for glory-- 24 even us whom he has called, not from the Jews only but also from the Gentiles? 25 As indeed he says in Hosea, "Those who were not my people I will call 'my people,' and her who was not beloved I will call 'beloved.'" 26 "And in the very place where it was said to them, 'You are not my people,' there they will be called 'sons of the living God.'" (Romans 9:22-26 KJV)

Postscript:  My mother is not a believer even today.  She thinks religion is just a state of mind and that it is o.k. to be gay.  I have a younger brother who is a homosexual.

This family photo was taken a day or so after my father died:

Mt. Pisgah Road and County Line Rd., Bowling Green, FL, Nov., 1971

[Note:  I would have been better to say that Pentecostalism is heterodox.  The classical Pentecostal churches are more orthodox in their doctrine.  The problem is that Pentecostal denominations do not exercise church discipline over the more charismatic congregations that go off into heretical teachings like the Word of Faith movement and the prosperity gospel.]

Does God Need Us? Taking a Hiatus from Blogging

Our sense of self importance is often over-inflated.  At times God reminds us of our temporal limitations in this world and of our impending mortality.  Those reminders occur when there is a calamity that threatens our financial security, our home, our family or our health.  We tend to forget that God is in control of every single detail of every event in our lives and nothing happens apart from His will.

Divine Providence

We believe that the same God, after He had created all things, did not forsake them, or give them up to fortune or chance, but that He rules and governs them according to His holy will,1 so that nothing happens in this world without His appointment;2 nevertheless, God neither is the author of, nor can be charged with, the sins which are committed. For His power and goodness are so great and incomprehensible, that He orders and executes His work in the most excellent and just manner, even then when devils and wicked men act unjustly.3 And as to what He doth surpassing human understanding, we will not curiously inquire into it further than our capacity will admit of; but with the greatest humility and reverence adore the righteous judgments of God which are hid from us,4 contenting ourselves that we are disciples of Christ, to learn only those things which He has revealed to us in His Word without transgressing these limits. 

This doctrine affords us unspeakable consolation, since we are taught thereby that nothing can befall us by chance, but by the direction of our most gracious and heavenly Father, who watches over us with a paternal care, keeping all creatures so under His power5 that not a hair of our head (for they are all numbered), nor a sparrow, can fall to the ground, without the will of our Father,6 in whom we do entirely trust; being persuaded that He so restrains the devil and all our enemies that, without His will and permission, they cannot hurt us. And therefore we reject that damnable error of the Epicureans, who say that God regards nothing, but leaves all things to chance. [Belgic Confession:  Article 13, Of the Providence of God.]

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1 John 5:17; Heb. 1:3; Prov. 16:4; Ps. 104:9, etc.; Ps. 139:2, etc.

2 Jas. 4:15; Job 1:21; 1 Kings 22:20; Acts 4:28; 1 Sam. 2:25; Ps. 115:3; 45:7; Amos 3:6; Deut. 19:5; Prov. 21:1; Ps. 105:25; Isa. 10:5-7; 2 Thes. 2:11; Ezek. 14:9; Rom. 1:28; Gen. 45:8; 1:20; 2 Sam. 16:10; Gen. 27:20; Ps. 75:7-8; Isa. 45:7; Prov. 16:4; Lam. 3:37-38; 1 Kings 22:34,38; Ex. 21:13

3 Matt. 8:31,32; John 3:8

4 Rom. 11:33-34

5 Matt. 8:31; Job 1:12; 2:6

6 Matt. 10:29-30

Modern Evangelicals tend toward Arminianism and even semi-pelagianism.  But they do not realize that their views on divine providence, that God allegedly leaves many things up to fallen man and to chance, is really deism or epicureanism rather than biblical doctrine.  But the fact is God is in control of every choice we make through secondary means.  In other words, He does not violate our will but yet the choice we make is absolutely certain.  How could God know the future if He is unsure of what choices we will make?  (Romans 1:10, 15:32; 1 Peter 4:19; James 4:12-16).  God even knows every hair on our head and when the sparrow will fall to the ground in death (Matthew 10:29-30).

When unemployment or sickness strikes we ought to continue to trust God even when things seem more difficult than we can bear.  God will never leave nor forsake His people, those chosen from before the foundation of the world (Ephesians 1:4-5, 11; Matthew 1:21; Hebrews 13:5; Joshua 1:5; Psalm 37:25; 2 Corinthians 4:9).  Even famines and natural disasters and wars and terrorist attacks are in God's sovereign control (Isaiah 45:7; Amos 3:6; Ezekiel 23:4, 9;  Deuteronomy 28:49-52).

The LORD your God has been around much longer than you or I have been around.  He does not need you or me to accomplish His will.  He did  quite well before you or I was born and He will do just as well without us.  To say that the Creator is in need of a mere creature to accomplish His will is arrogant and downright dangerous.  On the other hand, God does use us as instruments to accomplish His divine plan.  He works providentially through His appointed means, including the church, the preaching of the word and the adminstration of His two sacraments.  But let us not become arrogant and boastful as if God cannot accomplish His plan without us.  He could cut us off at any moment and be perfectly just in doing so (Romans 11:22; James 4:14; Job 7:7; Psalm 102:3).

You and I need not worry that God will fail simply because He has taken us off the front lines of the battle.  His Word will not return unto Him void but will accomplish that to which He sent it to do:

. . . so shall my word be that goes out from my mouth; it shall not return to me empty, but it shall accomplish that which I purpose, and shall succeed in the thing for which I sent it. (Isaiah 55:11 ESV)

I will be posting only occasionally for a time since my new job will have me out of town and on the road.  This is not to say that I am giving up on my blog ministry but only that I am trusting God to allow me time to post via hot spots and other means.

May God continue to bless the reformation movement in the Anglican Communion.  By this I mean a continuing move toward the theology of Holy Scripture and the Magisterial Protestant Reformation of the 16th century.  Let every Anglican profess the doctrines in the faith confessed by the Thirty-nine Articles of Religion and the 1662 Book of Common Prayer.  May God bless the Heritage Anglican movement in the United States and may His glory be exalted to Him alone!