Orthodoxy Is Heresy?

Biblical Christian Orthodoxy Is Now Considered Heretical

biblical Christian doctrinal orthodoxy is now considered heresy

Introduction

 
What was once generally accepted as the orthodox and true view of the gospel (Calvinism) is now considered heresy. And what was once considered heresy (Arminianism, a.k.a. free-willism) is now considered the true, orthodox view of the gospel.
 

Arminianism is in! Calvinism is out!

 
We are now living in a day and age when biblical doctrine, that was once considered AND WIDELY ACKNOWLEDGED* to be “orthodox” (i.e. true, accurate, biblically sound, and accepted by many genuine Christians) is now looked upon as heretical and what was once branded by the Church at large as heresy is now fully embraced as orthodox (wholly true and widely accepted as Biblical). And the sheer horror of this matter is that this has occurred in the area of soteriology – the very Gospel itself – the doctrines pertaining to SALVATION! Thanks to the following reasons, I believe:

  • A tremendous lack of knowledge of Church History especially regarding the Protestant Reformation.

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  • Serious ignorance of creeds and confessions whose framers created those documents to prevent heresies from cropping up.

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  • Bible schools, colleges and seminaries taken over by heretical teachers.

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  • Many wolves in sheeps clothing – hirelings – masquerading as pastors and preachers, who don’t understand the doctrine of Total Depravity.

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  • Man’s love for a gospel that allows man to participate in his own salvation.

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  • Man’s utter distaste for any gospel that fully exalts God’s sovereignty in salvation.

What are we getting at here?

 
Well, for the uninformed, we are saying that the unbiblical doctrine known as Arminianism is running rampant in modern Christian churches. It is a false gospel that puts man in control of his own salvation, claiming that lost sinners can get saved by accepting Christ, via some prayer, or formula or some other method, any time THEY wish. This doctrine was branded as heresy centuries ago and was known as Pelagianism, Semi-Pelagianism, and Arminianism. This gospel assumes that man’s will is free, even to the point of being able to make the first move, to turn to God. Granted, there may be a large number of genuine Christians in this camp, who just don’t realize that God regenerated them FIRST before they reached out to Christ, and it was this supernatural act of God (a.k.a. the “second birth”) that enabled them to even want to come to Christ, the real Christ and not some counterfeit Christ who needs a sinner’s help to accomplish their salvation.
 

So how are pastors, preachers and teachers getting away with the spreading of this false man-centered gospel?

 
There are two main ways they are accomplishing this, even to the point of fooling genuine Christians:

  • They have developed a system of theology to justify their own erroneous interpretation of Bible verses regarding salvation.

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  • They paint a very negative picture of the true gospel, saying it is unfair and heretical, and then they proceed to explain why, by giving a false description of the true Gospel of salvation by grace alone.

Often they equate hyper-Calvinism, which actually is unbiblical, with conventional Calvinism, which is a true, biblical description of five major points of doctrine regarding salvation. Then by attacking this “straw man” called hyper-Calvinism, as if it were the doctrine that Calvinists believe, they convince their hearers that Calvinism is bad, and yet they never really tell their hearers the truth about what real Calvinism teaches (usually because they don’t understand it, which as I mentioned earlier, is often a result of not understanding the doctrine of Total Depravity, that man is too spiritually dead to seek God or to truly, biblically repent, while yet unregenerated).
 
They will say that some Christians favor the doctrines of Calvinism (and with it the doctrine Predestination) because if its true then they don’t have to witness (share the Gospel) with others, since God will save whom He wants to save with or without their help. This claim ignores the fact that even Calvinists believe that God uses the preaching of His Word to convict and convert sinners, in conjunction with the power of the Holy Spirit operating on God’s elect:
 
“… how shall they believe in him of whom they have not heard? and how shall they hear without a preacher? …” – Romans 10:14-15
 
They will say that if God does the choosing, then we are nothing more than robots that God controls. What the reality is, is that we are nothing more than spiritual corpses that God must supernaturally regenerate (make us “born from above”) before we can see the kingdom of God (John 3:3), let alone enter into it (John 3:5)!
 
They will randomly quote bible verses out of context that appear to support a free-will view of the Gospel, yet they will never address the fact that the unsaved are DEAD in their trespasses and sins (Ephesians 2:1), which the Bible describes further in Romans 3:11 and Romans 8:7-8:
 
“There is none that understandeth, there is none that seeketh after God.” Ephesians 2:1
 
“Because the carnal mind is enmity against God: for it is not subject to the law of God, neither indeed can be. So then they that are in the flesh cannot please God.” – Romans 8:7-8
 
If you try to challenge the teachings of these Arminian (free-will) preachers regarding their false “free-will” gospel, they will brand you a heretic and tell you to leave their church. I say this from my own experience. They may try to be diplomatic about it and tell you that you would be happier elsewhere or they may accuse you of being divisive if you continue to stick to your guns about the Gospel (regarding God’s sovereignty in electing sinners to salvation), and then they are likely to tell you to keep your views to yourself or go elsewhere. It is so sad that so many preachers and teachers of our day have embraced heresy as if it were orthodoxy. But then again, it is very possible that these are not true shepherds but rather thieves and robbers or wolves in sheep’s clothing. — RM Kane
 

FOOTNOTES:
* The most respected and highly regarded Christian theologians and Bible scholars of all time were Calvinists. Among these extremely well respected teachers of the Bible were Matthew Henry (known for his commentary on the Bible), John Gill (also known for an exceptional bible commentary) and Charles Spurgeon (one of the greatest preachers and evangelists of all time). The most notable bible teachers of our day who believe and teach that Calvinism is the Gospel include John MacArthur (Grace To You Ministry), RC Sproul (Ligonier Ministry) and D. James Kennedy (DJ Kennedy Ministries).
 

 

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