HARD BELIEVISM

 

CLAIREMONT BIBLE BAPTIST CHURCH

3410 MT. ACADIA BLVD.

 

In October, I attended the Longview Baptist Temple’s Twenty-Second National Soul-Winning Clinic. Hundreds of preachers were there. The preaching was very good and exalted the “King of Kings and Lord of Lords.” The clinics were full of valuable information designed by Dr. Bob Gray to help pastors in their churches.

The music was free from any contemporary junk. The Bible used was the inspired, inerrant, preserved King James Bible. The people of LBT were gracious, kind, and reminded me of the old fashioned Bible believing saints of years gone by. There is an excitement that goes on in churches that put their priorities in the right place according to the Bible.

Sadly, too many churches sit back in their “lukewarm” church houses and take pot shots at the soul winning churches. Usually, these churches find some other emphasis on which to base their ministry, or they invent pet doctrines to ride into the sunset of lethargy.

Since soul winning is the thing the devil hates the most, he fights the hardest against the soul winning churches. He tries to discourage the soul winners from going into the highways and by-ways to reach lost sinners for Christ. He knows his time is short and he wants all the company he can get to go with him into the lake of fire.

Some preachers point at the soul winning churches and cry: “EASY BELIEVISM.” Many of these accusers must believe in “HARD BELIEVISM.” The accusers say: “you soul winners do not believe in repentance.” (EASY BELIEVISM).

I can’t speak for all soul winners but I can tell you this: the soul winners that I know do believe in repentance as a part of salvation. They believe in Bible repentance not “HARD BELIEVISM.”

A number of times, I have heard Dr. Bob Gray say, “NO CONVICTION, NO CONVERSION.” This recognizes the Holy Spirit as the person who convicts the sinner through the presentation of the word of God. The power is in the gospel as it is presented by the soul winner. (Romans 1:16) The Holy Spirit convicts the sinner of his lost, ungodly condition and he turns his heart from his evil self, toward God, by believing on the Lord Jesus Christ. “Testifying both to the Jews, and also to the Greeks, repentance toward God, and faith toward our Lord Jesus Christ.” (Acts 20:21)

This is not a gradual process of repenting of all of one’s sins. It is instantaneous when the sword of the Spirit sticks the lost sinner in the gizzard of depravity. As a free moral agent, with a free will, he can say, “yes I will trust Christ” and be saved or “no I will not trust Christ” and go on his way to hell.

“HARD BELIEVISM” invents ways to stay away from soul winning and the great commission. (Matthew 28:19; Mark 16:15; Acts 1:8) Some churches go into the so-called deeper life movement. These folks pride themselves as being so “spirit led” that they would not dare witness to some poor lost sinner. After all, they might be doing it “in the flesh” and that would be tragic! A bunch of Pharisees is what they are.

Then there are the T.U.L.I.P. sniffers: the disciples of John Calvin.

Every once in awhile, we hear of some preacher who “gets saved” after being in the ministry for twenty years or so. He thought he got saved at a revival meeting when he was six or seven years old. Then some Bible rejecting, limited atonement preacher comes along and tells him, “if Christ is not Lord of all He is not Lord at all!”

The victim thinks, “oh, my heavens, I can’t remember if I trusted Him only as Saviour or if I trusted Him as Lord and Saviour.”  “I must not be saved.??” “I’m not sure if I repented or not.” Then some night while he is preaching one of his red-hot messages on the blood of Christ, as he has done for twenty years, he gets doubts about his salvation goes to the altar then gets up and tells his congregation, “I just got saved!” Then the guy goes on preaching just like he has been for twenty years. (something smells kind of fishy)

 This is an example of “HARD BELIEVISM.” This is the result of Calvin’s false doctrines, particularly the “perseverance of the saints” which he got from Matthew 24:13: “But he that shall endure unto the end, the same shall be saved.” The idea is, if the convert ever “back slides” after his conversion, he never really REPENTED and was not really saved.

He did not “endure to the end.” Of course, the heretic espousing this false doctrine doesn’t know, or care, that the verse applies to someone in the Tribulation and not in the church age. He hasn’t checked out the context and run the references in the book of Daniel on “the end.”

“And this gospel of the kingdom shall be preached in all the world for a witness unto all nations; and then shall the end come.” (Mat 24:14)

The gospel of the kingdom is preached in the Tribulation. (Daniel’s seventieth week.) The gospel of Christ and the gospel of the grace of God, that Paul called “my gospel,” is the gospel preached in the church age. (Acts 20:24; Romans 1:16; 2:16) We are not “enduring unto the end” to be saved. We are saved by grace through faith and kept by the power of God. (Ephesians 2:8; 1 Peter 1:5)

Advocates of “HARD BELIEVISM” mix grace and works by saying the lost person must repent of all his sins (works) and then he can believe on Christ and be saved.

Calvin’s TULIP theology teaches that the sinner cannot believe on Christ until God zaps him with irresistible grace at the predestined time. Thus he can only believe AFTER he is born again! The sinner’s WILL has nothing to do with it since he was “CHOSEN” unconditionally by God before the foundation of the world. Having been elected to be saved, he is the recipient of limited atonement, which means that Christ died ONLY for him and the other lucky “electees.”

Everybody else in Calvin’s scheme is doomed and could not be saved even if they heard the gospel. I guess the gospel has less power to save than Paul thought! “For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ: for it is the power of God unto salvation to every one that believeth; to the Jew first, and also to the Greek.” (Romans 1:16)

Limited atonement is a despicable doctrine! This false doctrine was hatched by misinterpreted verses and building on a faulty foundation. When Calvin came up with his “unconditional election theory, he surmised it was not necessary for Jesus to die for the non-elected. (reprobates). This makes Christ’s atonement limited only to the elect. However, such an atrocity breaks in and out of Adam’s bloodline selectively saving some and not others. This, of course, is nonsense and failure to believe the Bible.

EXAMPLE: “But there were false prophets also among the people, even as there shall be false teachers among you, who privily shall bring in damnable heresies, even denying the Lord that bought them, and bring upon themselves swift destruction.” (2 Peter 2:1)

The Lord “BOUGHT” unsaved false prophets and false teachers!

“All we like sheep have gone astray;(Calvin says Amen: total depravity) we have turned every one to his own way; and the LORD hath laid on him the iniquity of us all.” (oops!) (Isaiah 53:6)

TULIP sniffers agree to make the first “all” pertain to everyone in Adam’s race. But they have to make the second “all” pertain only to “the elect.” This is cruddy exegesis for pseudo-scholars who claim to have a superior grasp of the scriptures. J

Five point calvinism is just another form of “HARD BELIEVISM” and is designed to excuse a bunch of lazy preachers from going soul winning. It is disobedience to the Lord’s command to His church: “Go ye into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature.” (Mark 16:15) TULIP theology is an insult to the great commission.

Why bother going and telling lost sinners the good news if the predestined elect are going to be saved anyway, since they have no choice in the matter? The truth is: “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.” (John 3:16)

“EASY BELIEVISM” is a term used to identify the “one, two, three pray after me” type of “soul winning.” There is, no doubt, that kind of salesmanship that goes on in the name of soul winning. This is wrong and shows a lack of Holy Spirit leadership on the part of the soul winner. NO CONVICTION, NO CONVERSION.

However, I do not believe Christ died on the cross for everyone and then said: “I paid the price but I am going to make it HARD (difficult) for you to BELIEVE and get saved.”  The Bible teaches it is easy to get saved.

There was a man sent from God, whose name was John. The same came for a witness, to bear witness of the Light, that all men through him might believe.  (John 1:6-7)

But as many as received him, to them gave he power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on his name:  (John 1:12)

He that believeth on the Son hath everlasting life: and he that believeth not the Son shall not see life; but the wrath of God abideth on him. (John 3:36)

Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that heareth my word, and believeth on him that sent me, hath everlasting life, and shall not come into condemnation; but is passed from death unto life.  (John 5:24)

Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that believeth on me hath everlasting life.  (John 6:47)

And brought them out, and said, Sirs, what must I do to be saved? And they said, Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved, and thy house.  (Acts 16:30-31)

It is our duty to GO AND TELL. It is God’s duty to convict and save.

He that goeth forth and weepeth, bearing precious seed, shall doubtless come again with rejoicing, bringing his sheaves with him.  (Psalms 126:6)