Adrian Rogers is a False Teacher?
A few months ago I was “witnessed” to by a Calvinist on our youtube channel. He watched a video I uploaded entitled “Predestined for Hell? Absolutely Not!” by Adrian Rogers. He proceeded to tell me that Adrian Rogers preaches an “Arminian false gospel of free-will” and therefore he preaches a “false Christ” and “false god.”
This Calvinist then accused ME from the start of being an Arminian and I preach a false gospel because I believe a sinner must “make a decision” to follow Christ. I told him I wasn’t an Arminian but that didn’t seem to sway him. It was as if he was having a conversation with someone else and I happened to be reading it. This is not the first time this has happened to me when speaking with Calvinists. He then started listing verses to support his view. The interpretations he gave contradict other verses, but that didn’t seem to bother him in the least!
Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell
Repeatedly he tried to tell me what I believe and why, without asking me. We weren’t having a conversation, it was more like him telling me what I believe and why I believe it. He told me since I believed I made a “decision for Christ” he concluded I was “prideful” and I was really a “Roman Catholic” without all the bells and whistles. I told him I grew up Catholic for the first 20 years of my life. I went to Catholic grade school, middle school, high school, attended Mass several times a week, the whole thing. So for him to make a connection between “deciding to follow Christ” and Roman Catholicism was a massive stretch.
When I told him this he said “Like a Roman Catholic you believe you must COOPERATE with God to be saved. God is waiting on you to decide.” The cooperation that Roman Catholics do is far different than making a personal decision to follow Christ. In the bible God asks sinners to make a decision to follow Him over and over again. In fact Christ asks sinners to consider the costs of following him which involves making a personal decision.
Luke 14:26-33
26 “If anyone comes to Me and does not hate his father and mother, wife and children, brothers and sisters, yes, and his own life also, he cannot be My disciple. 27 And whoever does not bear his cross and come after Me cannot be My disciple. 28 For which of you, intending to build a tower, does not sit down first and count the cost, whether he has enough to finish it– 29 lest, after he has laid the foundation, and is not able to finish, all who see it begin to mock him, 30 saying, ‘This man began to build and was not able to finish.’ 31 Or what king, going to make war against another king, does not sit down first and consider whether he is able with ten thousand to meet him who comes against him with twenty thousand? 32 Or else, while the other is still a great way off, he sends a delegation and asks conditions of peace. 33 So likewise, whoever of you does not forsake all that he has cannot be My disciple
Faith is a Work?
He said I believe God does 99% of the work of salvation and I must contribute the other 1% by “making my own decision” to follow Christ to make salvation complete. This is not the “gospel” he said. You see, he was suggesting “faith” is a “work.” I repeatedly told him the bible teaches “faith is not a work”, that “faith is counted as righteousness” but that didn’t seem to matter in his strategy he used for witnessing to me. It was as if he was preconditioned to give certain responses to my arguments without first thinking about them.
I told him the nature of saving faith is an admission “that I cannot save myself and I need a savior to save me from judgement.” In fact all of the non-Calvinists I know admit they cannot save themselves. This is what repenting is…its a “change of mind” from what you used to think (I’m good enough to go to heaven) to “I’m a sinner needing a savior.” But he ignored that and kept telling me I have pride because “I” believed the gospel.
Christ died for you?
I asked him this question, “Do you tell sinners Christ died for them?” He said, “No, thats not part of the gospel. The Apostles never did that.” Calvinists would not tell a sinner “Christ died for you” since they believe Christ only died for some people, not everyone.
Telling sinners “Christ died for you” is not part of the gospel? The Apostles never said that? Yes they did. Here Paul is talking to Christians telling them what gospel he preached to them BEFORE THEY WERE CHRISTIANS. Its the same gospel PAUL RECEIVED he said.
1 Corinthians 15:1-3
1 Moreover, brethren, I declare to you the gospel which I preached to you, which also you received and in which you stand, 2 by which also you are saved, if you hold fast that word which I preached to you–unless you believed in vain. 3 For I delivered to you first of all that which I also received: that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures…
Omitting “Christ died for your sins” from the gospel is making the gospel ineffective. Its the “goodness of God” that leads people to repentance (Romans 2:4). Its the fact that God loved a sinner FIRST that is the goodness of God and if you don’t believe Christ died for you His love will not be shown to break the sinners hard heart.
I told him Christ died for everyone including the false teachers in 2 Peter 2.
2 Peter 2:1
1 But there were also false prophets among the people, even as there will be false teachers among you, who will secretly bring in destructive heresies, even denying the Lord who bought them, and bring on themselves swift destruction.
He responded with “those are the people who came out of Egypt.” I told him “while it is true these are the people who came out of Egypt Christ died for them.” He then said, “Peter was talking to Christians.” I told him, “while it is true Peter was talking to Christians he is telling them Christ died for the false teachers.”
He then ignored that verse, and many others, and went on.
Stop Rejecting God’s Sovereignty!
He seemed obsessed in making sure God gets all the credit for everything that happens, which I thought was strange since if he truly believes God is sovereign in all things than it doesn’t matter if he convinces me or not. God is already sovereign! Do you suppose God will be “more or less sovereign” if I believe him? I thought God wasn’t controlled by what men do?
He proceeded to tell me God controls all things, and I am denying His sovereignty in salvation. I pointed out to him if God is sovereign in ALL THINGS its impossible for me to deny His sovereignty, because if I could, God isn’t sovereign!
I told him if what he says is true than my unbelief in what he says is ordained by God. Its not “my fault” I can’t believe him. He already told me I don’t have free will so how can I deny God’s sovereignty? The conversation was very confusing and thats because his ideas were contradictory.
I asked him “What difference does it make if Adrian Rogers is a false teacher? You believe God is sovereign over all things which means God’s elect will be saved and you believe the unelect will be damned. No amount of false teaching will lead people away or closer to salvation will it?”
When I told him these things it didn’t seem to register that Calvinism is contradictory and it should be discarded. It was as if his mind was held captive by a philosophical system created by a man named John Calvin. It has to be…it takes many years of training to be deluded into thinking contradictory doctrines are true.
Bad Witness
Don’t get me wrong, he was a nice enough guy, he seemed concerned. The problem is his witness to me was confusing, he was contradicting himself, and he was telling me I wasn’t saved when in his own doctrine you cannot know who the elect are!
His strategy seemed to be like this…assume what I believe and why I believe it without asking…quote verses and interpet them according to a system of theology called Calvinism…if I don’t believe his interpretation quote more…if I give verses which contradict ignore them and quote more… then tell me what I believe (when in fact I don’t)…and then finally determine I am apostate because God hasn’t caused me to believe him, pat himself on the back for persevering in the faith and move on.
He seemed to be concerned about me but only in regards to my agreement that God does everything. So am I saved if I admit “I” don’t believe in Christ because God makes me believe? Is that the gospel? My admission saves me? But isn’t that a “work” if my admission saves me? God is waiting for me to “admit?” But how can I admit if I don’t have free will as he told me? My admission is the hinge by which salvation swings?
It was a very strange witnessing encounter (I was the one being witnessed to) and I pray he will come to a knowledge of the truth…the truth that God is not a God of contradiction (Calvinism) and human beings are loved by God because He sacrificed His Son for them when they didn’t deserve it.
“All things that happen in all the world at any time and in all history—whether inorganic matter, vegetation, animal, man or angels (both good and evil ones– come to pass because God ordained them, Even sin- the fall of the devil from heaven, the fall of Adam, and every evil thought, word, and deed in all of history.” Edwin Palmer, The Five Points of Calvinism, 1999
“…God desired for man to fall into sin…God created sin.” R.C. Sproul, Jr., Almighty Over All
It’s funny how Calvinists treat “Sovereignty”. They say that God can only be sovereign if He causes “everything” that happens, even sin. To me that is actually limiting God’s sovereignty. To me because God is sovereign He is powerful enough to allow us to have free will and not be threatened by it. Reformed Theology and Calvinism teach that God’s sovereignty would be threatened if we had free will.
Free will acknowledges that God is active in our lives and that He does intervene and cause certain things to happen as evidenced by the prophecies in the scriptures. Other things that happen to us are a result of choices we make. While yet other events happen because of sin that is in the world, we can’t control the events, we can control how we react to them. Free will teaches that because God is sovereign and active in our lives He can use any event for our benefit, even those events He does not directly cause to occur.
Even though God is sovereign He did not prevent man from sinning or the effects of sin. Having the capability to sin doesn’t make us greater than the Creator which is what Calvinists claim if we have free will. That He could have prevented sin but didn’t doesn’t weaken God’s position with respect to sovereignty and neither does allowing us free will. God allowed His perfect creation to become corrupted, but rather than holler “Cut!” and make us do the scene over God allowed His creation to continue.
Why did God allow sin in His creation? The answer is that to prevent sin and its effects would be to prevent free will. Therefore the fact that sin and its consequences exists is proof that we have been given free will. Otherwise God would either have created a perfect world and kept it perfect or he would have prevented the effects of sin from marring His creation once we messed it up.
Free will does not negate God’s sovereign will, nor does it deny that God has a plan for mankind. That God allows us free will is demonstrated by His paying the price for sin for us all. All we have to do is accept Him.
I have been told by my Reformed Theology friends that since God is sovereign over all it is presumptuous for us to call anything evil. They say nothing is really evil because God created it, they say we just don’t understand God and His purposes. They tell me since we cannot know God’s mind and God causes all things as part of His sovereign plan, then nothing is really evil, there is no difference between good and evil. Yet God’s sovereignty is not threatened by free will and He tells us we can distinguish between good and evil.
“Woe to those who call evil good and good evil” Isaiah 5:20
Say to them, “‘As surely as I live, declares the Sovereign LORD, I take no pleasure in the death of the wicked, but rather that they turn from their ways and live. Turn! Turn from your evil ways!” Ezekiel 33:11
I just told a dear calvinist that calvinism is not Biblical! He accused me of being intolerant and vitriolic!
I only asked him about a god that would damn millions to hell before they were even born, if he thought
that that was a God of Love. I asked him other questions for which he had no answers.
He told me that I had no understanding concerning biblical Hermaneutics. I told him that I could
show him using biblical hermaneutics that calvinism was not only false but heretical. He left, mumbling
to himself. I told him as he stole away that I would be praying that my god of grace and love would
set him free from his bondage to calvinism and set him free to the true grace of God.
They (the calvinists) are a cult! We must witness, love, and pray for them to be set free.
God bless, John Gregory
Absolutely! They have moved away from the simplicity of Christ into a philosophical system known as Calvinism. His lack of answers is common. Thank you for your thoughts and always be diligent with gentleness and respect.
Very well written. Agree 100%.
The most dangerous device of the Devil facing Christianity today is Calvinism – it comes in the guise of “Christianity” when it teaches nothing of the sort. that said, due to professions of faith, and repentance, there are many people who are now Calvinist who were saved. Just because they became misguided since their conversion does not “undo” the Gift of God.
Not only does the Bible say ONLY the FATHER IN HEAVEN will know the EXACT time He will send Jesus back to retrieve His foowrlels ALSO, did you all realize that this Harold Camping guy has had false predictions before? I guess the last one was in 1994? He also says that the Holy Spirit LEFT (was removed from)us in 1988! We all know this is FALSE! Please guys, don’t be so easily deceived. It only HURTS your faith when you believe lies they don’t happen! I want to see Harolds face on Sunday.
Calvin had a murderous spirit within him. Just do a Google search for more details.
Can any Christian in his right mind believe that the Holy Spirit was working in the heart of Calvin?
I don’t understand why people are following a very dangerous theology proposed by a non Christian
Most people talk about “Calvinism’ and do not even know what it really is , they have made assumptions based on what others say about it ad nauseum etc etc..from one mouth to the next. Calvin did not dub anything called ‘Calvinism’. Might try reading some of John Owens’s works – some of the comments in this post are utterly ridiculous and do not see how they have anything to do with the title of this post. Adrian Rogers? Just heard him on the radio and after hearing 15 minutes of bantering secular psycholigisms searched ‘adrian rogers false teacher’ just to see what others are saying about him. But that was all I was hearing from him – teaching has gone in so many schools from the Facts about The Faith that is in Christ into dissecting humanistic thought patterns in so many ways – I’ve gone back to reading writings of some of the Puritans who had a lot of it right but not ‘so called Perfectly’…with a blend of those who under what Grace really is. As for the guy I heard on the radio – he comes with the flavor of the Crystal Cathedral – I think people are in love and blinded with his voice more than anything else because what he actually has said in the few occasions I’ve heard him had very little substance. False teacher? I don’t know – maybe just not a very good one – if he preaches Christ Jesus is not LORD and Salvation is’ not’ ” by Grace and not by works that no man may boast” – then he would be closer to a ‘false’ teacher – though I’m not exactly sure how that was to be understood when Paul and others made those letters – that might have referred more to the Gnostic thinking and the Romanology of the time that continues to this day – romanticism and superstition does flow through the catholic church so freely the entire community has been blinded from generation to generation .
“Calvinists would not tell a sinner “Christ died for you” since they believe Christ only died for some people, not everyone” Wow!!! Did you get that from Calvin’s Institute’s????? Or are you just choosing to write whatever discredits this particular group of people????
I tell every person I share the gospel with that “Christ paid their price for sin” because I do not know who the elect are. I will just be obedient to the command of my Lord and preach the gospel to all.
Please explain these following verses
Matthew 1:21
John 10:15
Ephesians 1:4
John 6:37-40
” Calvinists would not tell a sinner “Christ died for you” since they believe Christ only died for some people, not everyone” I have to ask, did you get this from Calvin’s Institutes??? If not, where did you get this information from. Unless you intentionally would like to defame a group of believers whom, based on your above rant, you have not been diligent enough to study.
I do not agree with everything Calvin has written and done in his lifetime, however his understanding on the doctrine of salvation is spot on, if you took the time to read his Institutes you will see biblical evidence for his beliefs.
Just to understand your view on Christ’s death – Ephesians 5:25-27 – Christ gave himself (sacrificed, died, bore the wrath from the father) for the whole world, He is now sanctifying the whole world, cleansing the whole world with His Word, so that He may present the whole world to Himself in splendour as a spotless bride, and the whole world will be without spot or wrinkle and the whole world be holy and blameless.
What about 1 John 2:2 – I would love to get your understanding on the meaning of this passage
Please also explain these passages (using your view on Christ’s death) just from the first six books of the new testament
Matthew 1:21
Matthew 11:27
John 10:14-16
Acts 13:48
John 1:13
John 5:21
John 6:37
John 6:44
John 6:65
John 10:11
John 10:26-30
John 12:40
John 14:17
John 15:16
John 15:19
John 17:6-26
ROMANS 9:1-23
“Calvinism”…”Arminianism”…But what does God’s word itself state?
Based on careful and diligent reading of the Authorized over many years, God has graciously allowed me to see the truth of many things… One of which came to me recently:
If man can DO anything to gain salvation ( even believe ), then that constitutes man’s efforts, and man’s efforts are as filthy rags in His sight. Man’s efforts ( of any kind ) at gaining salvation are something I categorize as WORKS, and if a man can choose Christ, then he can potentially boast about it.
When God performs all that is necessary to bring someone to Him, this makes God’s efforts GRACE, not works, which are man’s efforts. Since God chooses the sinner, then they have absolutely nothing to stand on EXCEPT His grace, and the potential for boasting is totally removed. All glory goes to God for even bothering with me, a sinner who deserves Hell for all eternity.
Saving faith is not present in the sinner…it is a gift of God ( Ephesians 2:8-9 ) that comes by the hearing of His word ( Romans 10:17 ) and was Authored and Finished by Jesus Christ ( Hebrews 12:2 ). Belief is also a gift given to the believer: Philippians 1:29, ” For unto you it is given in the behalf of Christ, not only to believe on him, but also to suffer for his sake;” It is GIVEN to the believer, to believe.
One must be one of Christ’s sheep to even believe on Him “savingly”: ” But ye believe not, because ye are not of my sheep, as I said unto you. ” ( John 10:26 ) The children of the devil will not believe.
When God saves someone, it is from eternity past. They are chosen from among the ranks of the mass of Hell-bound sinners and drawn to Him by the preaching of the word and by His Holy Ghost at a time of His choosing and for His glory. Each and every child of the living God is chosen to be instruments of praise and thankfulness for His grace and mercy to Him, and Him alone for their salvation. Those that are not chosen and drawn will not believe on the Biblical Christ, nor will they see Him as Scripture reveals Him. To them, He is a loving Saviour…but not necessarily a terrible Judge who will literally command the angels to throw people into eternal Hell fire.
Do those of you who have left comments here believe in the God of the Bible, who can do as He wishes with His own creation, and does so in complete justice and righteousness? Who are we as sinners to tell Him that He cannot choose His own children, and send the children of the Devil to Hell where they belong?
Me? I’m nobody…and replying against God would be to speak out of my rebellious and hard heart, instead of being thankful for His salvation out of my soft and regenerate heart ( Ezekiel 36:26 ).
As for “free will”? It’s an illusion created by the Devil and the corrupt minds of men who only THINK that they are completely free to choose good or evil. Mankind has already and will always choose evil, rather than come to God in repentance. We love our sin too much to give it up.
The Bible is very specific and condemning of mankind’s so-called “free will”…mankind is in rebellion to God and His ways, and will not come to Him…AT ALL. ( Romans chapters 1-3, John 3:18-20 )
I think the reason why so many people fight against the details of God’s saving grace, is because deep down in the flesh, we all want to DO something for God…but in His wisdom and power, He literally STRIPS AWAY every avenue of approach to becoming the recipients of His grace, and leaves us with one straight and narrow road…HIS choice. It HAS to be His, or it isn’t of grace.
Ladies and gentleman, one can read writers from here to eternity, and if God does not show you how to read and understand His word alone, no amount of teaching by the pulpits and pens of men will EVER make a difference. Do some of you hate the so-called “Doctrines of Grace”? It’s probably because there are many on both sides who do not understand them properly.
You see, mankind is literally in the trash can, and loves his sin so much he will not come to God…because he knows that to do so, would be to have his sin reproved, and to suffer God’s commands to repent. He is fully responsible for his predicament, and will go to Hell rather than do an about-face. God’s word shows this, and why He has to change the heart, or no man would be saved and given the very great privilege of knowing and walking with his Maker. God cannot trust a person who loves their sin more than they love Him.
As for false teachers? Anyone who unrepentantly teaches doctrine that is contrary to the Scriptures is a false teacher, and anyone who teaches works OF ANY KIND is teaching a false gospel. Anyone who teaches that a man can do something to gain salvation is not understanding the Gospel of grace…and that God’s grace is His efforts towards men, not man’s efforts towards God.
What did Adrian Rogers teach…that God does everything necessary for salvation and that the saved will eventually evidence and be characterized by it, or that man can do something to gain salvation, such as “exercising saving faith”? Reviewing his teachings is easy enough, so you decide. Works ( man’s efforts ) or grace ( God’s efforts )?
May God bless you in the knowledge of His Son.
I’d like to address something I saw in this article almost immediately…the difference between the Gospel and a false gospel.
IMO, the Gospel of God’s grace is the totality of the truth of God’s grace towards men. This includes every revealed detail outlined in God’s word, even the “difficult passages”. It is not a “formula” to “get someone saved”, it is a declaration of God’s love for humanity and His purposes both to save them and to judge them. EVERYTHING Scripture says about how and why He saves anyone, is ultimately “the Gospel”. Everything that deviates from what is revealed in God’s word is a perversion of His Gospel, no matter how small, and makes it a FALSE gospel. Anyone who PREACHES a false gospel, God’s word says,
” But though we, or an angel from heaven, preach any other gospel unto you than that which we have preached unto you, let him be accursed.
9 As we said before, so say I now again, If any man preach any other gospel unto you than that ye have received, let him be accursed.” ( Galatians 1:8-9 )
This is SERIOUS language, and anyone who plays with God’s Gospel is in deep trouble. Also, I believe that anyone who truly believes in God their Saviour should tremble at what is said here…those that preach a false gospel are to be accursed. There’s no “fooling around”, no “slack”, no “mistakes in translation or presentation”…anyone who preaches a false gospel, let them be accursed.
The very first detail that anyone who seriously reads and believes God’s word should see, is that the Gospel is limited:
” 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 )
“How is it limited?”, someone might ask. Read the words in verse 16 carefully, and then answer the question, ” Who is it that should not perish, but have everlasting life?” ” Whosoever believeth in Him.” There’s the limitation, IMO. You decide.
At this point, I won’t even get into the concept of what mankind calls “free will” , because God’s word tells the believer,
” Trust in the Lord with all thine heart; and lean not unto thine own understanding.” ( Proverbs 3:5 )
So as I see it, the question(s) to the individual becomes, ” Do you trust in Jesus Christ? Are you willing to trust the Lord with all your heart, and believe God’s words?” Notice I didn’t say, “man’s words about God.” The teachings of men should not come between us and our Saviour as believers, should they? If you think so, then are you really willing to listen to God’s voice and His words alone? The Lord Himself tells us,
” He that is of God heareth God’s words: ye therefore hear them not, because ye are not of God.” ( John 8:47 )
” My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me:” ( John 10:27 )
Are you willing to follow Him, and Him alone? Then according to His word above, you are one of Christ’s sheep. If you’re not willing to follow Him and Him alone, then perhaps you should re-visit who you are believing in…Christ as revealed in Scripture, or a false christ revealed by men.
Again, what God says should be the believer’s final authority, and not what a man says about God’s word should be all that the believer should listens to. Like the Psalmist, can you say that His word is all that you are willing to listen to?
” Thy word is a lamp unto my feet,and a light unto my path.” ( Psalm 119:105 )
In addition, I’ve found that there is no “short-cutting” our understanding of it as believers…if you really want to understand God’s word, and you really believe that Christ, the Son of the living God is your Saviour, then do what He ( through His apostles ) tells you to do:
” Wherefore laying aside all malice, and all guile, and hypocrisies, and envies, and all evil speakings,
2 as newborn babes, desire the sincere milk of the word, that ye may grow thereby:” ( 1 Peter 2:1-2 )
With all this in mind, what does God’s word say about “Calvinism”, “Arminianism”, “Pelagianism”, “Monasticism”, “Catholicism”, “Seventh-Day Adventism”, “Mormonism” and any other “ism”?
I’m not going to tell you, because if it’s one thing I’ve found over 38+ years of believing on Christ, it’s that my corrupt flesh ( that lazy, no-good body I am living in until I go to be with Him ) wants everything NOW, and that includes the fast answers to everything about God. I’m also not going to tell you, because it’s not my job to tell you who the false teachers are…it’s the Lord’s job, and IMO, He cannot do His job unless you are :
1) His child ( Romans 8:14, ” For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, they are the sons of God.”
2) Obeying Him as outlined above in 1 Peter 2:1-2 ( especially verse 2 )
Read His words often, and obey His words here:
” Study to shew thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth.
16 But shun profane [and] vain babblings: for they will increase unto more ungodliness.” ( 2 Timothy 2:15-16 )
Because as believers, He is your Teacher:
” These [things] have I written unto you concerning them that seduce you.
27 But the anointing which ye have received of him abideth in you, and ye need not that any man teach you: but as the same anointing teacheth you of all things, and is truth, and is no lie, and even as it hath taught you, ye shall abide in him.” ( 1 John 2:26-27 )
May God bless you all in the knowledge of His grace.