Covenant Theology and Calvinism’s Hidden Gospel
By: Brenda Nickel Some Christians see no problem in attending a Reformed church not realizing that in doing so, they run the risk of connecting with some aspect of Covenant theology. This system of theology, primarily found in Reformed circles, is based on three speculative covenants not found in the pages of scripture. These additional covenants that reformed scholars insist are present in the Bible must be inferred by extracting meaning from the... Read More
Simply Salvation
Today I saw a news article about a Pentecostal snake handler who was killed when one of his snakes bit him and he refused treatment. He thought that since he’d shown so much “faith” in handling these deadly creatures, God would save him. Too often people fall for these kinds of lies. They think they have to perform this ritual, or that ritual, or go to a certain number of church services, or say enough prayers, et cetera. Then... Read More
“Descent Into Error” Part 5
Continued from “Descent Into Error” Part 4 The Bible as a spell-casting device At one point it was decided, without me knowing it, to do what Tony Miano was doing in his sector of the witnessing universe. Tony suggested that Christians read sections of the bible to a crowd. This he called Project Ezra. He got the idea from reading Nehemiah where the law was read to the people and 1 Timothy 4:13 which says to read the bible publicly. ... Read More
“Descent Into Error” Part 4
Continued from “Descent Into Error” Part 3 Love Waxes Cold – To The Unsaved I noticed over time the goals of evangelism changed in the group from “loving the lost” to “elevating Christ’s name and being obedient.” Whether someone receives Christ or not didn’t matter as much as elevating Christ’s name by venturing out into the world. They think everything they do is about God’s sovereignty,... Read More
“Descent Into Error” Part 3
Continued from “Descent Into Error” Part 2 Judgement without Discernment Occasionally debates would arise about Calvinism. During different debates the group argued “the issues of Calvinism are not important, what is important is if we all believe in the essentials.” The essentials they listed are things like the Trinity, the resurrection of Christ, Christ is God, faith alone, the bible alone, Christ is the only way to... Read More
“Descent Into Error” Part 2
Continued from “Descent Into Error” Part 1 Mottos to live by? If you listen to enough preachers or read enough eventually you will adopt some of their catch-phrases. Things like “The Word of God is like a lion. Let it out of its cage and it will take care of itself” or “If sinners be damned, at least let them leap to Hell over our dead bodies” by Charles Spurgeon or some quote from John MacArthur or Paul Washer. Phrases... Read More
“Descent Into Error” Part 1
This is the true story of a witnessing team’s birth and its subsequent fall into the errors of Calvinism by some of its members. I decided to write this as a warning to others who may be involved with Calvinists who evangelize or who may be on the verge of embracing the doctrine. Looking back on my experience I am amazed at the subtle shift in behavior, doctrine, interpretation, attitude and mindset of the group due to Calvinism. Its interesting... Read More
Calvinist Critiques of Mark Cahill; Calvinism Weighed and Found Wanting
By: Brenda Nickel Recently, Calvinist bloggers have been less than charitable to their one time friend in evangelism, Mark Cahill. Having thoroughly embraced the belief system of Calvinism, and feeling strong obligation to defend its understanding of God and the gospel, these men put out an ‘all points bulletin’ throughout the blogosphere warning of disagreement among the brethren. Completely offended that someone could possibly disagree... Read More
