Responding to Admonishment

Coming to the end of the refutation of Dr. Goetsch has really got me thinking. I have emailed Dr. Goetsch multiple times and I know, because of site meter, that he has visited the site, but has yet to respond. Honestly, I don’t know how I would respond if I were to receive emails, and the such, about something I wrote. But, it got me thinking, how should we respond to admonition?

I know that when I was younger I could tell you how I would respond: who are they to admonish me? But, this is far from how we should look to those who bring godly correction in our lives. We should thank God that He loves us so much that He would give us fellowship with brothers and sisters in Christ that care enough about our sanctification to come to us, hopefully in love, to admonish us.

I have been corrected and admonished many times and my reactions to those have been all over the board. It wasn’t until recently, after I received a pretty public scorning by another, that I really learned what it means to correctly handle admonishment. I will say that the time that I just mentioned was not proper admonishment but was just a downright “angry correction” and should have been done in a more proper way. But, regardless, it made me sit down and really go through a process of understanding what this gentleman said, regardless of how he said it. So, here are the steps that I think should be taken by us after we are admonished.


First: Listen

Our first inclination as humans is to not listen when people are trying to correct us. Our first inclination is to think of a way of defending ourselves. James 1:19 tells us to be quick to hear and slow to speak and slow to anger. Sometimes when we don’t listen and are quick to speak, we see the natural outflow: anger. This is why James ties this into this verse in James 1:19. When someone approaches you in admonishment, listen fully to what they have to say so that you will know exactly where they believe you have sinned. I know we don’t know the full story of Paul opposing Peter (Galatians 2:14) but it seems as though Paul did all the talking and Peter listened. When we listen and take in the admonishment it will give us time to really think on the issue at hand instead of taking issue with the person bringing the admonishment.

Second, Pray over God’s word

After you have received the admonishment this is where the true work starts. We must take the “accusation” to the Lord in prayer over His word of truth. We must diligently seek God’s truth in understanding whether or not the accusation is truly a godsend. John 16:13 speaks of the Spirit of truth coming to guide us into all truth. I know this seems to be speaking of doctrine and specifically to the apostles, but this can also apply to us understanding our sin. Understanding our sin IS doctrine. Because everything opposite sin, is good, everything good, is from God (James 1:17). As you pray, ask God if the accusation is truly sin. Ask God to reveal to your heart on this matter and thank Him for the brother or sister that was sent to you about this issue. Because whether or not this truly was a sin, God has just shown you another who cares for you and one that you can grow closer to.

Thirdly, Repentance or Explanation

If you have sinned you must ask for God’s forgiveness. Notice that David, after sleeping with Bathsheba and killing Uriah, prays to God for forgiveness.

Be gracious to me, O God, according to Your lovingkindness; According to the greatness of Your compassion blot out my transgressions. Wash me thoroughly from my iniquity, And cleanse me from my sin. For I know my transgressions, And my sin is ever before me. Against You, You only, I have sinned, And done what is
evil in Your sight, So that You are justified when You speak And blameless when You judge.
Psalm 51:1-4

Notice that David says that he has only sinned against God. God is holy and His judgments are perfect and when we sin, we sin against our perfect Creator, who is grieved (Eph 4:30) when His children fall into sin. We must repent and draw close to our God in these times. Not only must we repent to our Almighty but we must go to the person who admonished us. Matthew 18 shows that when that person has come to us about our sin that when they know of our repentance they “drop the matter” at hand. So we must go to them and acknowledge our sin. I would also offer that we must thank this brother or sister for following 1 Thess 5 command and also Matthew 18 on admonishment. By them doing this they are showing their fear before the Lord more than the fear of our reaction, for that they must be commended.

If you come through prayer and meditation and find no fault you need to address this with the admonisher. You must go to them to explain biblically why you feel that your action was not sin. No matter how they came to you, whether biblically or not, you must return the favor biblically and do so with meekness. Thank them and allow them to hear your thoughts on the matter.

Fourthly, pray again

Afterwards, go again in private, or even better with the admonisher, and pray to El Shaddai for unity to be restored. No matter if you have sinned or decided that it was not sin, we must pray for unity. Peter showed the human heart by asking the Christ, “How many times must I forgive my brother?” Almost showing that we as humans will fall impatient with those around us. The devil wants to use this “confrontation” for the glory of his will and the tearing down of the saints. As Satan roams around looking for someone to devour, no doubt he will try and use these times for his cause, we must not allow this. Jesus Christ in the great High Priestly Prayer, prayed for our unity.

The glory which You have given Me I have given to them, that they may be one, just as We are one; I in them and You in Me, that they may be perfected in unity, so that the world may know that You sent Me, and loved them, even as You have loved Me.
John 17:22,23

You see the admonishment should bring about God’s glory and the unification of the saints, not the opposite. Admonishment is a good thing, it is a godly attribute of those who are truly saved.

I have always said to those closest to me and to those whom I preach to: Show me where I fault biblically, spiritually or physically and I will change immediately. This is not some haughty request of me believing that I am correct in all aspects, but is a truly humble request to let all know that I am not above admonishment from ANY brother or sister in our Lord Jesus Christ.

I want to end by saying that through this refutation it was not my intent to ever “tear” down Dr. Goetsch or any part of his ministry. My intent was to show a brother his misconceptions of Calvinism. I hope that he will see the errors that he made in his article and pray that he will recant those mistakes. I also pray for our unity in the Spirit on this issue. We must unify, if the unity of the Trinity is not enough of an example let some of the saints like Whitefield and Wesley be our example on this matter. Two men who greatly opposed each other’s doctrine of grace but still ministered together for years and in the end loved each other because of the undying love of Christ.

I hope this refutation has been a help and not a hindrance towards our unity of the body. May we all better understand each other’s views of Scripture and come to the Lord in prayer over these issues.

May we all seek the kingdom and keep our eyes on Christ and His glory alone.

Soli Deo Gloria!

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Conclusion to Refutation

For this conclusion I felt I must deal with some of Dr. Goetsch’s last attempts to defame all Calvinists as he draws a close to his article. As we showed in the start of his article the point was to obviously get the reader to “hate” Calvinists right away when he stated such things as:

Calvinism started with Augustine of the Catholic church.

Calvinism has INFILTRATED many seminaries, colleges, and churches.

It has affected good churches and colleges

Calvinism is an enemy of revival and evangelism

Calvinism has often been explained by using the acrostic TULIP to set forth the distinctives of Calvinism. Even though I have trouble finding "tulips" in the Bible.

Now, Dr. Goetsch ends his article in the same way that he started it. He takes intentional swipes at Calvinism to leave the reader with a heartfelt hatred for those who call themselves Calvinists. Here is the ending of the article, you can judge for yourselves:

I challenge you to get your answers from the Word of God. Calvinism is raising its head. I read recently where someone said it comes around about every forty years. I do not know if that is true, but it definitely is around today. The Calvinist will say it is all about God, but review what God says. I challenge you to look these verses up in the Bible. I challenge you to dig into the Scriptures. I challenge you to find out what God said about how a person gets saved. We have a responsibility as God’s people to know and to share this message.

Finally, for those of us who refute Calvinism, let us not be Calvinistic in practice. If we do not carry Gospel tracts with us, if we do not take opportunities to witness, if we do not go soulwinning this week, we may say we are not Calvinists, but we are practicing Calvinism. If we are not busy about the Lord’s work and reaching people, we are as dead in our service for Christ as those who follow the fatalistic spirit of the Calvinists!

Dr. Goetsch has crossed the line. He takes hateful swipes at many who adhere to the Doctrines of Grace and he will have to give an answer to God for why he would use such strong language against God’s elect. It is obvious that Dr. Goetsch knows very little about Christian history and very little of those he calls Calvinists. For if he did, he would know that the doctrines held so dearly by the Calvinist comes all the way, not only from the Bible itself, but from our early post apostolic fathers like Justin Martyr, Polycarp, Jerome and Augustine, from the reformation with Wycliffe, Hus, Martin Luther and John Calvin. Then from other great men of God throughout the years like Matthew Henry, Richard Baxter, Richard Sibbes, John Owen, John Bunyan, John Knox, George Whitefield, Jonathan Edwards, Asahel Nettleton and Charles Spurgeon. Not to mention men of God who have preached the word of God in the 20th and 21st century such as Schaeffer, Machen, Boice, MacArthur, Begg, Mohler, Sproul and many, many others. So to say that Calvinism, “comes about every forty years” couldn’t be further from the truth. The only time that Calvinism or the Doctrines of Grace were not in the forefront was during the great apostasy of the Roman Catholic rule. So to side with history against Calvinism, is to side with the Roman Catholic.

Not only did these great men of the past and present adhere to Calvinism but these great men of God went and preached the gospel to all who would hear. I am not going to go into the great details (you can click on my sidebar for quick bios of most of these men) of all these men but they all fought for the truth of the gospel and shared this message to many nations and with many people. They believed in Calvinism but believed moreso in the proclamation of God’s word to the lost.

I find it very difficult to swallow comments that Dr. Goetsch has put forth that Calvinists don’t share the gospel. What is interesting is that history shows that those who were Calvinists shared the gospel and were the most influential in the spreading of the gospel than any other Christian “movement.” One needs only to look at the reformation and the two great awakenings. All three of these time periods were led and triumphed for the sake of Christ by strong willed Calvinists. Dr. Goestsch should be thanking the Calvinist that he is not a Roman Catholic because who knows what would have happened if God did not use these great men to bring about reformation in the Church.

Dr. Goetsch will not answer my emails but I must ask, “Dr. Goetsch where are you getting your facts?” or better put, “Where are you getting these fallacies?”

It is apparent that Dr. Goetsch did not do his due diligence before writing this article and either knowingly deceived others or just got some bad information. Either way, there must be some sort of recantation. This Calvinist, not to boast but to just put forth facts, is very active in sharing the gospel and I love the lost. Not because I believe that I in myself love the lost, but because God gave me a new heart to love them with the love that He has for them. If you would like to see my evangelistic website you can check it out here.

I pray that those who read the article will somehow find this refutation on the internet and read it with honesty. I am not trying to fight for a cause and leave the gospel behind. But, to take those who love the almighty Trinity and the spread of the Gospel and say that we are fatalistic and not doing the Lord’s work, is an article and statement that must be refuted.

Calvinism and Predestinarianism is not greater than the gospel nor will I ever pretend it to be, but I do believe that the Doctrines of Grace are the most pure way of describing the plan of salvation from the eyes of our Creator. I will end with two quotes from men that I greatly respect, both who are Calvinists and both who love not only the gospel but also their fellow brothers in Christ who disagree with their beliefs in the Calvinistic Doctrines of Grace.

Once one of Whitefield’s followers said to him, "We won’t see John Wesley in the heaven, will we?" To which Whitefield humbly replied, "Yes, you’re right, we won’t see him in heaven. He will be so close to the Throne of God and we will be so far away, that we won’t be able to see him!"

After almost dying and being interviewed by TIME magazine this is how Al Mohler ended his interview:

I want people to know this is not the experience of Al the Calvinist, but Al the Christian. I wasn't reciting Calvinist principles to myself in the hospital bed, but I was very much trusting in the sovereign God any Christian can know and trust.

May we all understand that to divide the kingdom using hateful slurs and downright false accusations does not bring glory to our God but reproach. May we all have the insight that Whitefield had and that is to humble ourselves to everyone we come in contact with and know that God is greater and infinite in wisdom and we are just the fools that He uses to spread His wonderful gospel to a dying world.

I pray that Dr. Goetsch would see the errors that he made against his own brothers in Christ and may he repent and recant these fallacies and remarks that he has made against us.

Until then it is my responsibility to pray the truth to conquer and the lost to be saved by the unfailing gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ.

Soli Deo Gloria!

Sola Scriptura, Solus Christus, Sola Gratia, Sola Fide

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Refutation of Dr. John Goetsch - Perseverance of the Saints

I am going to start this post of the refutation by quoting Dr. Goetsch and you will see that he has now completely crossed the line and knows very little of Calvinism. These are strong words but they are used because I find Dr. Goetsch’s words as completely mishandling a topic and belief system (Calvinism) that has worked hard at pointing completely to Christ and completely away from man. Here is the quote to start us off on perseverance of the saints.

Calvinism teaches that even though one has faith, he can never have the assurance that his faith is true, “sovereign grace” faith. Perhaps God has given him a false faith because he is not really one of the elect. The Calvinist also teaches that one must persevere with his faith and good works, and that salvation is never assured. The Bible does not teach the saints persevering in order to keep salvation, but there are several verses that mention that the saints have been preserved. Perseverance is one thing. Preservation is another. The saints do not persevere – they are preserved.

Where do I start? I am going to try my best to be very gentle here even though my flesh wants to “lash out.” I have never been so astonished when reading those who oppose Calvinism. I thought I had heard it all when I read and heard Dave Hunt speak, but Dr. Goetsch takes it to the next level here in his opening comments on Perseverance of the Saints. Ironically, as I read this article, I was preparing a message titled, “Assurance: The Basis, Testing and Barriers to.” But how could I preach this message as a Calvinist if Dr. Goetsch’s words are true when he says, “Calvinism teaches…he can never have the assurance that his faith is true…” We, as Calvinist, teach that we can have assurance, but we don’t want this assurance to be a false assurance. We want believers to know that they have the faith given by God, the faith that produces fruit. We don’t want people to believe that just because they said a prayer when they were five years old, that they are saved. Now, if that prayer and repentance was true and showed forth fruit, then that would be a true, God giving, faith. But, what about those who “pray a prayer” and then live a life of careless sin? This is what Calvinism teaches is a false repentance and not from God.

So what do we teach in this area? Calvinism teaches that our assurance is completely laid at the feet of our Saviour, Jesus Christ. We believe that we should have assurance because of what Christ did, not what we have done. If God elected us from before the foundations of the world, if Christ died and completely propitiated for my sin and if God drew me to His side, then we should have assurance that our salvation is secured in Him. But only in Him. The difference that we need to show is that perseverance is different than the coined term, “Once saved, always saved.” Although, the Calvinist would completely agree with this term, this does not cover all that the fifth point of Calvinism covers. Based on the verses that Dr. Goetsch then puts forth, I am not going to list and exegete the verses that would refute Arminianism, but will show what the Calvinist means by “Perseverance of the Saints.”

We believe that if someone is truly “sovereignly saved” then they will produce fruit. This fruit starts on the day of salvation and continues til their death or Christ's return. The faith that God gives to the believer is not a dead faith. If someone says that they are saved and they live a life of a sinner then they are no more saved than the demons themselves.

You believe that God is one You do well; the demons also believe, and shudder. But are you willing to recognize, you foolish fellow, that faith without works is useless?
James 2:19,20

Know that we do not teach that our assurance is because of our works and neither is our salvation, but our works are merely how we can test our salvation. Just as the fruit of an apple tree shows that the tree is truly an apple tree, so does our good deeds. The deeds are only good because of our Saviour, and they show that we are truly saved. Since gardening is a much used metaphor, an apple tree really has nothing to do with its fruit but it relies on the gardener that plants, prunes and waters the tree so that it can produce more and better fruit.

We even see this in the great “Vine and the Branches” passage:

...and every branch that bears fruit, He prunes it so that it may bear more fruit.
John 15:2b

One of my favorite passages when dealing with fruit is from the letter to the Colossians. Look how Paul comforts the Colossians and their faith.

because of the hope laid up for you in heaven, of which you previously heard in the word of truth, the gospel which has come to you, just as in all the world also it is constantly bearing fruit and increasing, even as it has been doing in you also since the day you heard of it and understood the grace of God in truth;
Colossians 1:5,6

Notice that when the Colossians understood the grace of God in truth that they bore fruit from that day and, not only did they bear fruit, but their fruit was increasing. The faith from God’s elect produces fruit, this faith is not dead, but is alive in the glory of Christ. It is alive because it was from God and started by God:

For I am confident of this very thing, that He who began a good work in you will perfect it until the day of Christ Jesus.
Phil 1:6

Notice that it is God who starts the good work and it is God who will perfect it. That good work can only come from God, and that good work is perfected and assured by God, and that good work will produce works of God, because it is from God.

Jesus tells us this earlier in the Gospel of John when He states:

He who has My commandments and keeps them is the one who loves Me; and he who loves Me will be loved by My Father, and I will love him and will disclose Myself to him.
John 14:21


John’s first epistle is all about the testing of our faith; John states that true Christians:

Keep His commandments (1 John 2:3; 5:2,3)
Keeps His word (2:5)
Loves his brother (2:10; 4:19-21)
Do not love the world (2:15)
Confesses Jesus as the Christ (2:23; 4:13-15; 5:1) notice “confesses” is in
the present tense
Abide in Christ (2:27,28)
Practice righteousness (2:29;3:6,7)
Do not practice sin (3:8-12)
Are hated by the world (3:13)
Overcomes the spirit of the antichrist and the world (4:1-4;5:4,5)

So after all these ways to test ourselves we are told why John has shown us all these (I know that I missed some but you get the gist); John states this:

These things I have written to you who believe in the name of the Son of God, so that you may know that you have eternal life
1 John 5:13

The Calvinist believes that through Christ and His righteousness, and through the faith that God gives, the believer will be able to, through the Spirit, pass this testing that John puts forth in his first epistle. We will also be able to test ourselves as Paul tells us to in 2 Corinthians 13:5. The question then is what about those who said a prayer when they were five years old and then live a life of sin, how can they go through this epistle and test themselves and know they have eternal life (1 John 5:13)? The answer is that they will not pass the test and should be afraid of damnation. Are they not doing exactly what Paul condemned in Romans 6:1: continuing and living in sin? They should fall on their faces and ask for repentance from the God of our Salvation, so that they will not be apart of those whom Christ never knew in Matthew 7:23.

The Calvinist believes in assurance because of the old life that has passed away and the new life that has come (2 Cor 5:17). We can be assured that we have the faith from God. This testing that we do is not to bring doubt to our faith, but is to strengthen our faith and show ourselves ways in which we can grow closer to God. God doesn’t love us any more or less because of our works, but our good works are now pleasing to His sight because they are the fruit of His Spirit and not of our flesh.

The Calvinist believes as John Piper has put it:

Salvation is not faith PLUS works, but a faith THAT works.

We stand behind the great epistle of James and behind the statement that James purported:

For just as the body without the spirit is dead, so also faith without works is dead
James 2:26

So, does the Calvinist believe in assurance? Of course we do. Our biggest plea for our people though is to make sure that they are in the faith as Paul was concerned for the Corinthians when he told them to test themselves to make sure that they were in the faith (2 Cor 13:5). We don’t want people to have a false confidence, we want them to have the confidence that only comes from God and because of God. This really comes and flows also from the belief in Sola Fide, Sola Gratia and Solus Christus. When we realize that it is only by faith alone, grace alone and because of Christ alone will we have the true assurance that Christ can give us.

Do we believe in “once saved always saved?” Yes, but it is much more than that. We want God’s people to grow in the grace and knowledge of Christ. We want as Paul wanted and prayed:

For this reason also, since the day we heard of it, we have not ceased to pray for you and to ask that you may be filled with the knowledge of His will in all spiritual wisdom and understanding, so that you will walk in a manner worthy of the Lord, to please Him in all respects, bearing fruit in every good work and increasing in the knowledge of God; strengthened with all power, according to His glorious might, for the attaining of all steadfastness and patience; joyously giving thanks to the Father, who has qualified us to share in the inheritance of the saints in Light.
Colossians 1:9-12

May you continue to walk in the Light and may you pass the test of eternal life and enjoy the assurance that only comes from our great and glorious God and Saviour, Jesus Christ.

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Refutation of Dr. John Goetsch - Irresistible Grace

As we have gone through this refutation we have seen the misrepresentation and also the mishandling of some key texts involved with the Doctrines of Grace, or more popularly known as Calvinism. At this point, we come to the doctrine of Irresistible Grace or better named: Efficacious Grace. This, for me, was the easiest and most fluent point coming from the other three points of Calvinism. As we read Dr. Goetsch though, he again does nothing, in my humble opinion, to add to the discussion but just lists some verses and says, “See! It’s obvious!”

We must understand that as we interpret Scripture we must interpret it as a whole and not just in the funnel of a couple of passages and then overlook some definitive passages on the subjects at hand. If one is to take the verses that Dr. Goetsch lists below and say they are obvious then they also must take the verses that I will engage and exegete and give Scriptural exegesis on how they all fit together without separating from the whole. This is my main argument against Arminianism, that I cannot thoroughly refute here, that it does not take all of Scripture but ignores some to prove a system.

As we should see in this section, if I have done a good enough job in showing Scriptural proof of the first three points, Efficacious Grace is the outcome of the first three points.

Efficacious Grace flows because of the following:

- if man is totally depraved, continually doing evil, without searching for God
- if God chooses, before the foundation of the world, a select group of people by the determination and counsel of only His holy will and nothing else, and;
- if Christ then died for only the elect and not those who were in and going to be in hell, then; It only makes sense that God would irresistibly draw the elect to Himself. Why would God choose someone before the foundation of the world, allow His Son to die on the cross for their sins and then not be able to draw this person to Himself?

Is this not the Creator of heaven and earth, the Creator of man and animal, failing those He sovereignly chose? This is the same God that spoke through Moses to His people in Deut 31:6

“Be strong and courageous, do not be afraid or tremble at them, for the LORD your God is the one who goes with you. He will not fail you or forsake you.”

But, this A=B scenario is not good enough for the babe or mature Christian, so, we must look to Scripture to find our guidance on the subject. But, first comes the refutation of Dr. Goetsch on this particular point.

The first set of Scripture that Dr. Goetsch turns to is Proverbs 1:22-24 which states:

“How long, O naive ones, will you love being simple-minded? And scoffers delight themselves in scoffing And fools hate knowledge? Turn to my reproof, Behold, I will pour out my spirit on you; I will make my words known to you. Because I called and you refused, I stretched out my hand and no one paid attention;"

What is interesting is that we see right from the start who God is talking to here in this passage of Scripture, which by the way is speaking of wisdom in the entire first chapter of Proverbs. So, follow me here. God is speaking about HIS wisdom here and is talking to “naïve ones” in the first of this short passage in verse 22. He is speaking to those who will never turn and who will never listen. He is speaking to those who have been “passed over;” the reprobate. They are naïve and will never learn from God the wisdom that only comes from Him. Look to John 6:45

“It is written in the prophets, ‘AND THEY SHALL ALL BE TAUGHT OF GOD.’ Everyone who has heard and learned from the Father, comes to Me’

Notice that EVERYONE who has heard and learned from the Father, does what? Comes. Not sometimes, not almost every time, but this is a definitive statement: all will come to Me. Who comes? Those who have heard and learned from the Father. So who are those that haven’t heard and learned from the Father? The naïve ones spoken of in Proverbs 1:22-24. What is interesting about this passage is that God doesn’t feel sorry for these people in the slightest, for in verse 26 in the same chapter it states this:

I will also laugh at your calamity; I will mock when your dread comes

We also learn in Isaiah 66 at the end of the chapter that those in heaven will come to watch the bodies of those who refused God, burn and be eaten by the worm that will never die. This seems cold and heartless but this is the fate of those who turn a deaf ear.

The mistake that Dr. Goetsch then makes is that he states the following based on Proverbs 1:

God was pleading with the nation. He was pleading with the people. He was saying, “ I have done everything that I know to do to bring you to Myself, but you would not.”

Sorry to say, but God doesn’t say this at all anywhere in Scripture, EVER. Where does Dr. Goetsch find this in our text? This is simply a classic look at eisegesis; adding your interpretation to Scripture instead of letting the text speak for itself. We actually find the opposite true in Scripture. We find that God does NOT do everything in His power for the reprobate. Take a look at this open and shut passage:

Then He began to denounce the cities in which most of His miracles were done, because they did not repent. “Woe to you, Chorazin! Woe to you, Bethsaida! For if the miracles had occurred in Tyre and Sidon which occurred in you, they would have repented long ago in sackcloth and ashes. “Nevertheless I say to you, it will be more tolerable for Tyre and Sidon in the day of judgment than for you. “And you, Capernaum, will not be exalted to heaven, will you? You will descend to Hades; for if the miracles had occurred in Sodom which occurred in you, it would have remained to this day. “Nevertheless I say to you that it will be more tolerable for the land of Sodom in the day of judgment, than for you.”

Matthew 11:20-24

Did you catch that? Jesus Christ just said that the Father’s perfect knowledge knew that if certain miracles were done in Tyre and Sidon that they would have repented! So, if this is true, why didn’t God do those miracles so that they would repent? Simply put, these people were not chosen to be saved. We don’t know the secret will of God, nor do we pretend to, but we do know that if God is omniscient then He knows exactly what we need to “see” or “experience” (which is always the word of God according to Romans 10:17) to be saved, and for those who are His elect He reveals, and for those He does not choose, He withholds.

God sends that chosen one to church that Sunday to hear the preacher cry out, “Repent! For your day is near” and that is exactly what that chosen one does; he repents. But guess what? There is also, in that same congregation, one that hears the very same message, by the very same pastor, with the very same passion, that turns their heart even more cold by denying the message and calling the message foolish (Heb 3:15). This person is the one who is reprobate and does not have the Holy Spirit opening his heart to the ways of the Saviour. Why? God’s ways are higher than our ways.

Dr. Goetsch then goes on to show Isaiah 65:12; Jeremiah 7:13; Matthew 22:3; John 5:40 which all point to God calling for repentance and man refusing. Why wouldn't they refuse? They are all totally depraved and think the things of God to be foolishness (1 Corinthians 2:14). They are blinded by the god of this world (2 Corinthians 4:4) and do no good and don't fear God (Romans 3). Dr. Goetsch, on the other hand, says that this is clearly God doing all He can but man being able to refuse that calling. We Calvinist don’t deny that God calls everyone to repentance, but there is a general call and a specific or special call. The general call is shown in all those above mentioned verses. It is also shown in Romans 1 where God is said to show all His invisible attributes in creation. But notice why these verses are all given: to show the sinner is fully responsible for their sin and they are the reason they are going to hell. I do believe the Scripture when it says, “Many are called but few are chosen (Matthew 22:14).”

The sinner is the only one that sends himself to hell and it because they hardened their heart and turned from God. They, because of their sin, chose evil all the days of their lives and did not choose God. They will pay for their sin in hell forever because of this bondage in sin that they chose. Many say, “Wait, they didn’t really have a choice if God is the only one who can make them choose good!” We must think another way: If it wasn’t for God, none of us would choose good, so praise God that out of His goodness He chose some to escape hell and didn’t leave us all where we deserve: in sin. This discussion is better left for another time as we focus our attention on efficacious grace. If you want a good illustration of this point go to Jeremiah 25 where God says that HE sends Babylon to bring judgment to Judah and that in the end Babylon will be judged for their sin. This doesn’t sound fair if God is the one doing the determining how can Babylon be punished for something that God foreordained and determined? Left in our sin, we will sin endlessly and care not about the things of God.

As I stated at the beginning of this post it comes down to the belief of the first three points of the doctrines of Grace: total depravity, unconditional election and limited atonement. The main focus of my attention will be placed in John 6 for this ending part of this post.

“All that the Father gives Me will come to Me, and the one who comes to Me I will certainly not cast out.“No one can come to Me unless the Father who sent Me draws him; and I will raise him up on the last day. “It is written in the prophets, ‘AND THEY SHALL ALL BE TAUGHT OF GOD.’ Everyone who has heard and learned from the Father, comes to Me."
John 6:37,44,45

Notice these references. Christ says that “all,” or every single person, that God gives Christ, or the elect, will come to Me (Christ). This is definitive, there are no outs, there are no times when these people will not come, this grace that is shown these gifts from the Father to Christ is irresistible. If we could resist God that would mean that God intended to give Christ a gift (a person) but didn’t have the power to carry out that gift. Does this not fly in face of God’s omnipotence? Isn’t God all powerful? Did not Job state in Job 42:2

“I know that You can do all things, And that no purpose of Yours can be thwarted. "

Would not a person, the gift, which is to be given from the Father to the Son, would not this person be a “purpose of God” mentioned in Job 42? If so, then how can God’s plan to give this gift be thwarted, even by the person themselves resisting that grace? The answer lies in John 6: They can’t thwart God’s plan! They, or better put, we, cannot resist God’s drawing, it is irresistible. Most say, “well, if Paul refused God on the road to Damascus, God would have just used someone else.” No! Paul is apart of God’s plan, not just the preaching to the Gentiles. People get this so mixed up, as if God doesn’t care about the specifics. If God wants a tribe in Africa to come to Him in the year 2010, He not only has the specific tribe in mind but He has the specific person that will preach to that tribe! They are all apart of God’s purpose. So, if this “so-called preacher” is not a believer as of 2007, that preacher will be saved by the year 2010, and will hear the call to Africa to that tribe so that God’s purpose will stand. All of God’s plan, all of it, not one “jot or tittle” will go be removed.

We do notice in John 6:44,45 that there are some things that happen to make it irresistible and these are the drawing of the Father and the hearing and learning from the Father. These must happen, and this is called specific or special revelation, and only is given to the elect. And every single one of them, all of them, will come to God. If God’s grace is resistible then what Jesus says in John 6 is a complete fabrication and should have put some “outs” for those who could deny the drawing. But there isn’t. I know that sounds strong but there is no way around Christ’s words. Either all will come or not; you can’t have it both ways. So either there is a general revelation and a special revelation or there is just one revelation to all man kind. The Calvinist says there has to be two kinds of revelation because we see that some can resist God’s “call” but this is not the special revelation mentioned in John 6. The non-Calvinist states that there is only one call so man can resist. But how do they come to grips with John 6 that says that “all” will come that has heard and learned of the Father?

There has to be two types of revelation, or John 6 makes absolutely no sense whatsoever.

Those who deny Efficacious Grace show a God that is sitting in heaven hoping that His plans of salvation come true. Hope that those He chose, will indeed choose. Simply put, could have Jeremiah, Moses, Noah, David or Abraham resisted absolutely God’s call? If so, God’s plan could have been thwarted and when God said that He foreknew Jeremiah this was just a, “well, I thought I foreknew you and I am glad that you chose Me or I would have gone another way!” That is not the God that I serve. The God of the Bible states:

The mind of man plans his way,
But the LORD determines his steps.
Proverbs 16:9

The king’s heart is like channels of water in the hand of the LORD;
He turns it wherever He wishes.
Proverbs 21:1

And they observed the Feast of Unleavened Bread seven days with joy, for the LORD had caused them to rejoice, and had turned the heart of the king of Assyria toward them to encourage them in the work of the house of God, the God of Israel.
Ezra 6:22

The God of the Bible is in complete control and nothing can thwart the great El Shaddai, the Lord of Hosts, the Almighty Yahweh.

This includes drawing perfectly His chosen elect whom will worship Him forever in the presence of the Prince of Peace.

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Before Continuing Series

Before continuing the series on this refutation of Dr. John Goetsch, I wanted all to know that I have tried to email Dr. Goetsch on three different emails to tell him of this series to make sure that he is fairly represented. I have had one comment on another blog questioning my method, which was retracted after I gave my reasoning (and this individual is someone who I have had good conversations with before, so no worries). Anyways, the reason for this refutation is the same reason that Christ refuted the Pharisees and Sadducees in public, why Paul called out certain individuals in his epistles (Hymenaeus and Alexander in 1 Timothy 1:20 to give an example) and also John did the same with Diotrephes in 3 John 9. These were all that were teaching false doctrine to the public, in public. I believe that the complete misrepresentation of Calvinism that was mailed, in Newspaper form, to most Baptist churches in the United States needed to be spoken out against. I am not calling Dr. Goetsch a heretic nor am I saying that he is a non-Christian, as I do not know him personally, but the way that he handled this column was very disappointing, and in my opinion, very hateful. If there are any other questions on why this refutation was written please comment freely. If you would like to email Dr. Goetsch to try and give attention to this refutation you can email him at:

john.goetsch@lancasterbaptist.org
john.goetsch@westcoastbaptist.edu

Thanks for your interest and I hope that this refutation is for God's glory and not my own.

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Refutation of Dr. John Goetsch - Unconditional Election

In our last section we spoke of the issue on Total Depravity and the next topic that easily flows into this, once a foundation is laid with Total Depravity, is Unconditional Election. You see, if we see that no one does good, we are completely lifeless and dead to sin, haters of God, not searching for God, enemies of God and deserving His wrath, one must ask, “On what basis does God choose?”

Election and predestination are biblical terms so to try and say they are not, one (I am not speaking of Dr. Goetsch here nor am I saying that in any way he denies these terms) is not reading their Bible for they are used many times. The issue here is on WHAT BASIS does God make His choice of us?

Dr. Goetsch gives a quick definition of Unconditional Election from the Calvinist standpoint and does well with the space that he has, but of course, doesn’t give any Scripture references that point to God’s sovereign choice of us, nor would I expect him to (or anyone on the Arminian side of this either). Here is his definition:

The Calvinist believes that God chooses to save some people, not because of anything they have done, but according to His sovereign will.

That is a good definition. The problem is that he then goes on to speak about why He agrees that salvation is not of works and lists some biblical verses (Titus 3:5; Romans 3:28; Eph 2:8,9) that speak of this. But, this is not the issue here; God’s BASIS of election is.

This is going to be split into two parts in this post. I will first give an introduction of the basis of our choosing and then refute the verses that Dr. Goetcsh lists. This is the hard thing. This entire section of his article is just a listing of verses with no exegesis, using no context, nor any simple explanation. So I will have to refute some verses by simply giving their exegesis, as I cannot refute or explain Dr. Goetsch’s exegesis because he did not give any. I also must be brief so that you, the reader, are not here all day reading.


First, the reason that we find that God chooses us and when He chooses us is very plainly found in Ephesians 1:4,5,11

just as He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world, that we would be holy and blameless before Him. In love He predestined us to adoption as sons through Jesus Christ to Himself, according to the kind intention of His will, In Him also we have obtained an inheritance, having been predestined according to His purpose who works all things after the counsel of His will,

Notice here that we are not only told when we were chosen for salvation but, why we were chosen. Some say (Dr. Goetsch did not point to this) that God looked down the portal of time to see who would repent and decided to choose them based on their choosing of God. Quickly, the Bible never states this, nor even hints to this concept, it is a man made doctrine and if anyone can give Scriptural proof, I would honestly like to see it. We are told here on what basis that we are chosen. Notice that it is because of HIS will. In verse 5, above, it can’t be anymore plain, it says that He predestined us as adoption as sons…according to the kind intention of His will. Again, in verse 11 notice who God had to counsel: No one or nothing besides His own will. We are told that the reason that we are chosen is for His purpose not ours and definitely not on what we have done. He had to counsel no one nor did He have to use the counsel of our actions in the future. It says that His purpose in choosing us was only by His own counsel. Even further Paul points this out in Romans 9:15,16 after saying that God loved Jacob but hated Esau, before they were ever born, Paul says this:

For He says to Moses, “I WILL HAVE MERCY ON WHOM I HAVE MERCY, AND I WILL HAVE COMPASSION ON WHOM I HAVE COMPASSION.” So then it does not depend on the man who wills or the man who runs, but on God who has mercy.

Notice it does not depend on the man on who God will have mercy on, it all depends on God, and Him alone. In our previous text, to drive this home, Paul uses the term, “in Him” or “in Christ” some 9 times in just a span of 10 verses. If you read Ephesians 1:1-14 no one can doubt the tone is supremely on Christ and what God has done for us through Christ. The emphasis is not on our deeds, or why we OUGHT to be chosen, but on God’s love and on God’s will for us. Verse 8 even uses the term “lavish” to show that He has given to us abundantly, over and above anything we deserve or even desire.

Some bring up foreknowledge and say that since God knows beforehand all things, He knew our actions and that is why He chose. If you would like to read a whole post on the subject, please click here. But, notice with the word foreknowledge, when used of God, only speaks of God foreknowing (Acts 2:23; 1 Peter 1:1,2; Romans 11:2) a people NOT their actions. We do know that God does foreknow their actions but the emphasis is on the actual person. The word that is broken down to give us the word “foreknowledge” is the word(s), “know” or “knew” and this is an intimate usage. It does not merely mean to know OF something or someone but means to know that person intimately. God foreknew Jeremiah in Jeremiah 1. Do we really think that God knew of this guy who would be a great prophet, and preach against His people, so then God foreknew who Jeremiah would be, and then predetermined that Jeremiah would be a prophet? No. First God intimately knew Jeremiah, determined that he would be a prophet, therefore, Jeremiah was all these things because of God’s will not Jeremiah’s.

Also, the word is used of Adam “knowing” Eve, and then they had a son. (Gen 4:1,25) Need I say more of this usage here?

Jesus says in Matthew 7 to those who are not His own, “Depart from Me for I never knew you.” Do you think that Jesus didn’t know anything about this people or OF these people? When they came for judgment, Jesus didn’t ask, “what is your name, I have never heard of you, where did you come from?” No, Jesus is talking about the intimacy of the knowing of someone. Of the relationship with that person.

The clincher for the word, “know” comes in John 10:14,15

“I am the good shepherd, and I know My own and My own know Me, even as the Father knows Me and I know the Father; and I lay down My life for the sheep.”

No one would say that there is just a knowledge between the Father and Son. No, it is much more than that; there is no separation of the two; they are One. This is the knowledge that is spoken of when speaking of God foreknowing us. He foreloved us; just as He foreloved Jacob in Romans 9, not because of our “running” or because of our “will” but because of His mercy.

Many more verses but I must get to Dr. Goetsch’s verses. He points out the following verses with no explanation at all, so I will take the liberty in giving a small explanation here. The first two are:

John 3:16 and Romans 10:13 that both say that “whosoever” shall call on the name of the Lord shall be saved. I, of course, completely agree with these verses, they are true, they are God’s words. The better term for us in the English language for “whosoever” would be “all those believing” as the term “whosoever” is a foreign term to the Greek and John and Paul would have never used that term, “whosoever.” But that is really not the argument. The argument was placed in Total Depravity and will also be discussed in Irresistible Grace, and that is: How do they believe or how do they call on the name of Christ? Simply put in John 6:44

No one can come to Me unless the Father who sent Me draws him…

The term “no one can come” literally means, “no one is able to come, impossible to come.” So if this is true, the only way that anyone can call on the name of Christ is if God draws (or drags) them to Himself. Who does He draw? His chosen, His sheep.

To him the doorkeeper opens, and the sheep hear his voice, and he calls his own sheep by name and leads them out.
John 10:3

Notice the other part of this on who doesn’t hear His voice:

“But you do not believe because you are not of My sheep. My sheep hear My voice, and I know them, and they follow Me;
John 10:26,27

Notice why they don’t believe: because they are not His sheep. It is not the other way around. It does not say: You are not My sheep because you don’t believe. First, sheep (or chosen); then belief. Not, belief; then chosen.

Dr. Goetsch then points to 2 Peter 3:9 and for that refutation I want to keep this post shorter so please click here for my post on this verse.

Next verse is this:

First of all, then, I urge that entreaties and prayers, petitions and thanksgivings, be made on behalf of all men, for kings and all who are in authority, so that we may lead a tranquil and quiet life in all godliness and dignity. This is good and acceptable in the sight of God our Savior, who desires all men to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth.
2 Timothy 2:1-4

Dr. Goetsch didn’t include all these verses only the last verse. If one takes a look at all four verses one can look at context. First, the verse is telling Timothy to make prayers on behalf of ALL men. Does this mean that Paul is telling Timothy that he must make prayers for every single person in all the earth? No, the emphasis is found in the immediate context when Paul points to kings and all in authority. Paul is telling Timothy to make petitions and prayers for all men no matter their stature or position. Remember, the Romans were brutal back in the day and a lot of people, especially the Jews, hated the Roman authorities. But, Paul is saying that God desires all men to be saved, no matter who they are, whether rich or poor, slave or free man, Jew or Greek, and in this text, whether a king or an authority. Context, Context, Context.

Lastly, is Revelation 22:17

The Spirit and the bride say, “Come.” And let the one who hears say, “Come.” And let the one who is thirsty come; let the one who wishes take the water of life without cost.

Notice, how people come (there is a condition, it is not a general call to every single person): those who hear and are thirsty. Again, Romans 3 tells us that none of us are “thirsty” or searching for God. So, God has to make us thirsty by the quickening of the Spirit. It also says, all who hear. Look to this verse:

“It is written in the prophets, ‘AND THEY SHALL ALL BE TAUGHT OF GOD.’ Everyone who has heard and learned from the Father, comes to Me.
John 6:45

This is a great verse because it points to not everyone has heard and learned from the Father. This is a special revelation from our Creator. If everyone has the same opportunity then everyone would come, because EVERYONE who hears and learns from God, comes. Not one is left out, not one will resist. So, if God called everyone, we would have to be universalists and believe that all will be in heaven. But, we don’t, so the question must be asked: How does God choose who He will speak and teach to? By His will, not ours.

Only to those who hear and are thirsty does God say, “come.” And they are only hearing and thirsty because of God, not because of anything that they have done.

I know this was a long section and I apologize. I pray that Dr. Goetsch would read this post and see where we differ based on Scripture Alone. We cannot put our own thoughts on Scripture, we must allow it to speak to us by the Spirit. Some of these things are hard to understand, and I don’t pretend to know how all this works. But, I am convinced that we are all elected, not on the basis of any works or action on our part, but based solely on the counsel of the perfect will of our Father.

May God be glorified, and may I be gentle and fearful of my God.

Soli Deo Gloria!

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Refutation of Dr. John Goetsch - Total Depravity

If you did not read the introduction to this series please make sure you do so that you can see the reason for this series and also the temperment going into this article written by Dr. Goetsch. The first doctrine, in order of the TULIP is "Total Depravity." I will credit Dr. Goetsch with giving a good quick introduction to the topic but I believe that Dr. Goetsch misses the point of the Calvinist doctrine of Total Depravity. He agrees and shows in Scripture that we are born sinners through Psalm 51:5 and tells why Calvinists believe that one must be regenerated before being justified. The place that he misses is when he states:

We are children of wrath even as others, according to Ephesians 2:2

He was only one verse off, but that makes the whole difference here when speaking of total depravity.



The verse he misses is Ephesians 2:1 and this is why it is imperative to read in context and not allow for this misrepresentation. Ephesians 2:1 states:

And you were dead in your trespasses and sins

The word for "death" here in the Greek is the term "nekros" and is exactly what it sounds like, it means lifeless. Eph 2:2 then states that not only were we dead in our sins but we were, "walking according to the course of this world." Some try and say that if a person is truly dead then he cannot do good or evil. But, it is Paul's intent to show that the person is dead (also see Colossians Col 2:13) to righteousness but alive for evil. We see this same concept in Jesus and Paul using the term "slaves to sin" many times (John 8:34, Rom 6:6,16,17,20) and we actually get a definition of what this means in Romans 6:16

Do you not know that when you present yourselves to someone as slaves for obedience, you are slaves of the one whom you obey, either of sin resulting in death, or of obedience resulting in righteousness?

Notice that if you are a slave to sin that is who you obey, you are one or the other, not both. If you are evil's slave and you must obey your master. We could continue to show this but I want to keep to the article at hand.

Dr. Goetsch then goes on to say that he believes what John 6:63 states:

It is the spirit that quickeneth; the flesh profiteth nothing: the words that I speak unto you, they are spirit, and they are life.

and he also states that he believes John 6:44:

No man can come to me, except the Father which hath sent me draw him: and I will raise him up at the last day

But this is where he makes a grave error. Dr. Goetsch says that there "must be a cooperation on the part of the individual with the Holy Spirit's conviction." The question I have for Dr. Goetsch is, "How is this cooperation accomplished in the life of someone who is a slave to sin, dead in their transgressions, an enemy of God (James 4:4), a hater of God (Romans 1:30) and who doesn't search for God or understand the things of God (Romans 3:11)?" And more so, "Where is this stated in Scripture according to these verses?" The term "draw" in John 6:44 is a strong word meaning "to drag" and is placed only on God's work, not man's.

This is why we need regeneration by the Holy Spirit to believe. Notice that in Genesis 6:5 and Genesis 8:21 both say that the thoughts of man are continually evil from the days of their youth. Romans 3:10 states that no one does good, no not one. Is not responding to the call of God good? So the question is, if man is born into sin, dead and slaves to sin, continually evil, not righteous, their good deeds are like filthy rags to God (Isaiah 64:6) then how can the sinner ever "come" to God when they don't even search for God? The answer is only by the drawing and regeneration of the perfect God to the depraved sinner. Further, Romans 8:8 states that no one in the flesh can please God. There has to be something that happens before one is able to believe, it cannot "just click" nor can someone just suddenly "get it." They must be quickened by the Spirit.

After this Dr. Goetsch brings up a huge straw men that has been brought up many times before, "What about the person who doesn't want to be saved?" Sorry to say, but before the Creator quickeneth us, no one searches for God and our thoughts are continually evil. But, when God regenerates us and opens our eyes to His Gospel we want Him more than ever. Must we repent and believe? Yes, of course, but this only comes by the drawing of the perfect God not the cooperation of man and God or what is widely called, synergism.

For an example look to Acts 16:14

A woman named Lydia, from the city of Thyatira, a seller of purple fabrics, a worshiper of God, was listening; and the Lord opened her heart to respond to the things spoken by Paul.

Notice when Lydia responded...only when God opened her heart. Did she want to respond before that? The Scriptures give us no such indication. Did she want to respond to God after He opened her heart? Of course, so much so that it then tells us that her whole household was saved.

Another example of this is Acts 13:47,48 that actually ties into Unconditional Election but we'll hit it here as well:

For so the Lord has commanded us, ‘I have placed You as a blight for the Gentiles, That You may bring salvation to the end of the earth.’ ”When the Gentiles heard this, they began rejoicing and glorifying the word of the Lord; and as many as had been appointed to eternal life believed.

Notice who does the responding...only those who were appointed to believe. These people didn't respond because they were more joyful, it indicates that all rejoiced but only those appointed to eternal life believed.

Dr. Goetsch ends this part of his article acting as though we, the Calvinist, do not believe that the Lord calls for all to repent. We understand that God calls all to repent (called the general call) and this is why the SINNER'S rejection sends them to hell, not double predestination. Dr. Goetsch then states:

The Bible gives ample evidence that God speaks to the heart, but man has to cooperate with the Holy Spirit's pleading.

First, I don't know about your God, but the God of Scripture is not up in heaven just sitting around "hoping and pleading" that sinners will come to Him. He is omnipotent and completely sovereign not some beggar. Just because God commands an action doesn't mean that it is possible. God also calls us to be holy as He is holy (Lev 19:2) and to be perfect as your heavenly Father is perfect (Matt 5:48). We are also told to pray unceasingly in 1 Thess 5:17. These are all commands that we cannot obey perfectly because we are still in the flesh, just as a sinner, without regeneration, cannot respond to God's command to repent.

I would like to see this ample evidence that Dr. Goetsch states is in the Bible. There is only one way that man can cooperate with God's commands and that is by the Spirit of God regenerating the person. John 3:3

Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born again he cannot see the kingdom of God.

One must be born again with the Spirit for them to see heaven, this is regeneration.

Only the faith given by God can cause the sinner that is totally depraved to respond in that faith:

For to you ait has been granted for Christ’s sake, not only to believe in Him, but also to suffer for His sake,
Phil 1:29

Notice that our faith was granted, which means to graciously give to another, by Christ so that we could believe in Him. Without this faith we will remain dead in our sins.

If Dr. Goetsch truly believed in John 6:63 and John 6:44 he would notice that both of those verses only point to God's grace and nothing about us cooperating.

I will end with this verse pointing again to our Father who is the one who does all the action towards us:

For I am confident of this very thing, that He who began a good work in you will perfect it until the day of Christ Jesus.
Phil 1:6

It is He who began it and it is He who will perfect it, not the sinner.

Link to Unconditional Election post

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Refutation of Dr. John Goetsch against Calvinism - Intro

I am a member of a church in Maple Valley, WA that is apart of the General Association of Regular Baptist Churches and we used to be named, First Baptist Church of Maple Valley, but we changed our name about 3 years ago to Taylor Creek Church. Because of our old name including the term "Baptist," we get a lot of strange mail and strange newspapers from around the nation. I don't disagree with the term Baptist, but with the rise of the American Baptist and Fundamental Baptists, there are a lot of Baptist churches around the nation that have gone over the deep end with their theological beliefs and influence.

Recently, my Pastor gave me one of these publications that was mailed to us and right on the front was, "What's Wrong with Calvinism?" I didn't know what to expect and didn't even know the church that sent it, which is neither here nor there cause there are a lot of churches that I am not exposed to because of my proximity up here in the corner of the United States. My pastor told me that I should refute the article on my blog and I thought, "good idea."

The article was put out by a publication called "The Baptist Voice" which is a publication put out by Lancaster Baptist Church in California. I don't know much of the church but from what I can glean it is an Independent Fundamental Baptist Church and so some of its distinctives are that they are King James Only and they are also of the belief that men should not have long hair nor do they believe that Christians should go to a movie theatre.

The article was written by Dr. John Goetsch, the vice president of Lancaster Baptist's college named, West Coast Baptist College. The opening of the article opens with sharing that Calvinism is basically like a disease that is infiltrating our churches. He starts by saying that he spoke to a man that is mentally handicapped at his church about John 3:16 and the beauty of that verse. Dr. Goetsch says that John 3:16:

clearly articulates God's thoughts towards a sinful world, but many times religious people can complicate the Gospel. Calvinism is one of those schools of thought that has become a confusing factor for those seeking the truth of God's salvation.

What amazes me throughout this "introduction" to the topic at hand is that Dr. Goetsch does not exegete any scripture and he "sets up" the reader to think very low of Calvinism by stating such things as:

Calvinism started with Augustine of the Catholic church.

Calvinism has INFILTRATED many seminaries, colleges, and churches.

It has affected good churches and colleges

Calvinism is an enemy of revival and evangelism

Calvinism has often been explained by using the acrostic TULIP to set forth the distinctives of Calvinism. Even though I have trouble finding "tulips" in the Bible.

As you can see, Dr. Goetsch's point in the introduction is to set forth a negative tone with the reader so that by the time he gets to the explanation of the theology the reader is already convinced that Calvinism is a cancer needing a cure. If Dr. Goetsch wanted to give an honest assessment of Calvinism he should give the facts of Calvinism and refute it with exegesis of Scripture, but as you will see this is far from Dr. Goetsch's approach or intent.

I pray that readers of this refutation will be open to being taught what Calvinism teaches instead of seeing it as a disease. My time here will not be focused on refuting Dr. Goetsch's other convictions but will be focused on the Scripture's that Dr. Goetsch uses in trying to refute Calvinism so that the reader will better understand the tenants of Calvinism.

The upcoming series will focus on this article that Dr. Goetsch wrote and will try my best not to stray from it. Please send me any emails or comment at any time if you feel that I am not representing this refutation correctly. Also, so everyone will know I have also sent Dr. Goetsch an email to allow him to come and interact with us here on this blog.

I pray that this series will be informative and done in a humble way to show forth biblical doctrine instead of a "man making a point." May we all conform to the word of God instead of expecting the word of God to conform to us.

Soli Deo Gloria!

Link to First Point - Total Depravity

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