Meet an Arminian.
Not by choice or even knowledge, mind you, but an Arminian nonetheless.
So what's an Arminian anyway? A follower, whether or not he knows it, of Jacob Arminius, late 16th century theologian.
The doctrines then being preached by John Calvin and most other reformers that involved predestination and such, were being challenged. They didn't sound fair. Somehow it couldn't all be true. God needed some explaining. Calvin must be a false teacher, etc. etc.
I mean, if God could and did convince some to come to Him, why not all? (Why not universalism?)
In England, the ideas of Calvin produced not only other reformers, but the solidness of the Puritans. Later as the fire and zeal went out and other ideas were allowed in, Presbyterianism was established. Arminian thinking came in too, bringing the church there and elsewhere half-way to Universalism. Finally, Universalists took the baton and so much of the past was decimated.
Similar things had happened during the days of Augustine well over 1000 years before. Augustine championed what today is known as Calvinism but was, earlier than Augustine, called Pauline. Against him came Pelagius, who taught that man had a lot to do with saving himself, a teaching soundly condemned in later councils.
Arminius too was condemned, by the Calvinists, though his way seemed to fit in well with Roman Catholic teaching.
In later years there would be and are great men of God on both sides of the issue. Wesley would popularize Arminianism, as would Moody and Graham later. The great bulk of modern evangelical thought is decidedly Arminian.
But, on the side of Sovereignty, predestination, and similar doctrines were Luther, Calvin, Huss, Ridley, Cranmer, the early church of England, the Waldensians, the original Baptists, the original Presbyterians, Fox, Bunyan, Edwards, Toplady, Whitefield, Wycliffe, the Puritans, Spurgeon, and men of this age such as Macarthur, Sproul, and Chicago's Erwin Lutzer.
So I landed on the Arminian side, spouting off free-will verses and admitting that there surely were some troublesome passages, but that they surely could not be saying what Calvin said they said. Nearly every Christian in my nation espouses Arminius' views without knowing it. I assumed that free will was God's "norm" and that those "difficult" passages were just, well, difficult. I mean, even Peter had a problem with Paul, right? And who has known the mind of the Lord? There are just a lot of things we'll not know until Jesus comes. That's the standard line, anyway. Keeps people from digging a whole lot farther than they have already dug.
Recently, within the last few years, I could stand it no more, I declared that both sides are right. I thought I had heard somehow that Spurgeon believed that. Anything good enough for Spurgeon, it seemed, well you know...
Now I find that Spurgeon drank deeply at the Puritan springs, that he was immersed in what is called Calvinism, though he refused to call it that. He called it Bible.
That wasn't the reason I had to keep thinking this thing through, but it didn't hurt the cause any.
When I began to go deeper, I made an awful discovery. It wasn't just Paul who wrote "hard sayings." I found a whole stack of comments from John. Dear old apostle-of-love John seemed to be firmly in agreement with John Calvin! Or was it the other way around?
It got worse. I began collecting verses, even sweeping the entire New Testament. To my amazement, virtually every book recorded passages that sounded very "Reformed" and "Puritan." I was about to share my New Testament findings, when the Old Testament fell apart too. Or rather, came together! In nearly unanimous voice, the Spirit-filled writers of Holy Writ declared that God does what He pleases, that what He pleases is good, and that it doesn't really matter how I feel about it. And no theologian of whom I am aware was consulted in the Heavenly Board Room about these doctrines.
The verses can all be called Calvinism if we please, but it's probably not proper to attribute to a mere mortal the thought processes of Almighty God.
I do not swear by Calvin or Luther or Augustine. Especially Augustine (sorry). Have you ever read all that Augustine believed and taught? No, please, no human source for me. But these men were tied to the origins in many ways. They were not afraid to say the difficult unpopular things. Those who assailed them on the basis of their own preferences and prejudices did so to their own hurt, and the damaging of the church of God. Election still stands. God's choices are God's choices.
When I make wonderful discoveries like this, I am compelled to pass them on, to put all the fragments of my thinking together and share the treasure with whomever will listen.
It was so when I first discovered Babylon. Mystery, Babylon. Then, I was overwhelmed with the prophecies of the end times. These teachings are indelibly marked on my soul. The gifts of the Spirit likewise, and the need to seek God with all of our heart to have an experiential religion, not only one of the brain, that too I researched and put into book form.
Now this. I find it difficult to imagine which pigeon-hole people will arrange for me to be cast into now.
Anyway, I said you should meet an Arminian. I guess you've figured out by now that true Arminians will have a bit of trouble with me. But though I change beliefs, my salvation is still intact. The thief on the cross had no leanings toward Calvin or Arminius. He was in Paradise that very day and is now. Not that doctrine is not important. It simply is not defining of one's position in Christ.
Romanists who have not yet come out of Rome but who have believed in and trusted Christ will also be there in Paradise along with a whole host of other folks we were not expecting to see.
Nevertheless, I rejoice in what I have found. Chosen of the Lord. I love to say it now. Well, we all know that Jesus is chosen. That does not seem to bother anyone. We know He deliberately chose each of the twelve. Is that a problem? I think not. Why do we stop here?
We would all call ourselves "a chosen generation" because Peter did. But in all these "choosings" we cling to the possibility/probability that each choice God made had to do with human meriting. We believed. We submitted to baptism. We repented. We, we, we (Pardon my French).
The only correction that Calvin (whom I have almost never read, by the way) and the rest would have us make, ultimately, is to change the pronoun to He, He, He. It's all about Jesus, the Father, the Spirit. All the glory. All the work. All the meriting.
My challenge to all readers is the same as Arthur Pink (have you read him?) to his, Let God be what He is. Release Him from your mould. Read the Scriptures as they really are. It is frightening, but worth the shock.
You may as well know that on whatever side of this struggle you land there are going to be Christians, maybe even real ones, who will put you on the outside of their circle. Best not to worry about circles any more. I had to stop that game when I first decided that the gifts of the Spirit are available today. It's happened several times since. And it's okay. Run your race, not your brother's. Be free to experience all that God has for you. It's a true adventure.
I am still running into troublesome verses, though now they are on the "Arminian" side. Some are just undecipherable, and the great scholars still don't know what to do with them. Best to do nothing, I suppose. I mean, what did Paul really mean when he said that people are "baptized for the dead" ? Are we sure we know the meaning of the unpardonable sin?
Other problem verses threaten to upset our status quo. Have you figured out what it means to worship "in Spirit and truth" and why the Scriptures admonish us not to keep "tongues" on ice, and to encourage all to prophesy?
Not like that in my church, I hear you say.
Still others challenge our whole way of thinking about our salvation and that of others. There is quite a collection of these verses in my Bible. I imagine they are in yours too. I have learned not only to "wince" at the appropriate places, but to allow that wincing to become so habitual as to form a callous on my wince-maker.
But God in His infinite patience has run these verses by me again. And again. And finally they are coming into focus.
I remember how I had heard the simple Gospel message itself so many times as a young person. But one night I really heard it. Tears, genuine, from the depth of my innards, flowed for many minutes, followed by a hilarious joy that let me know it was all real and wonderful.
But now I learn, through that same long-term process, that my salvation did not begin on that night at all. It was a thought in the heart of the Creator long before there was even an Adam and Eve, and a Garden for them to inhabit. "Saved from the foundations of the Earth." Nice ring to it. A ring of truth.
Let me share with you, from nearly every book of the Bible, the rest of that clarion ringing I am hearing lately. Many of the "greats" of Christian history have heard this joyful sound. Great theologians, great preachers. I will quote few of them. Every one of them made mistakes somewhere in their theology. No mere man is to be the bedrock of what we believe.
Let me give you the Holy Spirit's words through the Holy Spirit's men. Those who have read my other books know that this is my standard way. Track a truth through the words of Scripture until there can be no other conclusion but the one the text screams out.
The questions before us : What does God want us to know about His part vs. our part in the salvation of His people? Were we as a group known to God? Did He make an unalterable plan for those whom He foreknew? What does it mean to be "chosen" or "elected" ? Is this merely an intellectual argument or does it make a difference to believe in a Sovereign God?
You will not find an outline whereby each of these questions are answered one at a time in this book. But little by little, verse after verse, light will dawn. The subject will be covered. You may have to take it farther yourself, but I believe this will be a good start. Remember not to lean on your own understanding of life. That never works. Let God speak, and keep in mind the basic principles:
• God does what He wants. His ways are beyond ours and we need not like or agree with them. His will will be done, not ours.
• He chose us. Elected us. Predestinated us. He called us. Justified us. Sanctified us. Will glorify us.
• He caused us to come to Him.
• We are eternally secure in that call.
• He allows others to perish because of their own choices.
• He died for us and only us.
The few problems this system of belief (and we all have one) causes in some passages cannot be compared to the flood of Scriptures that broadcast it.
