“The hearing ear, and the seeing eye, the LORD hath made even both of them.” Proverbs 20:12
The book of proverbs warns us repeatedly that there is a way that seemeth right to a man, but the end thereof are the ways of death. One of those ways is the exaltation of Arminianism in modern Christianity. Jabobus Arminius was a “Protestant” reformer who argued that while man’s nature is depraved, it is not so totally depraved that it cannot understand the gospel and choose Christ as savior. Arminius argued for the existence of a “prevenient grace” that allows unregenerate man to understand the truth of Christ’s death, burial, and resurrection as it applies to the salvation of the soul. This is what I believed when I first started reading the Bible and what was taught at the Independent Fundamental Baptist church I was attending at the time. To believe in the idea of “total depravity” was labeled “Calvinism” and heresy.
Before reading Hendrie’s book I thought that my problem with Fundament Baptist teaching stemmed from the doctrine of the rapture or Zionism, but The Anti-Gospel made it crystal clear that the problem with most modern churches goes far deeper and is much more insidious than hair-splitting over end times prophecy or the definition of Israel: it flows out of an erroneous view of who God is and what role he plays in our salvation. Arminianism, or the “free-will,” “come whosever will” gospel teaches that man is sovereign over God, and that Christ can only react to our free-will decisions. By Arminian logic there are a whole lot of people in Hell who Christ does not actually want there, but they were too foolish to accept his help. The gospel of sovereign grace that the Protestant Reformers fought and died and that the Bible clearly and unequivocally teaches is in stubborn contradiction to the lenient, easy-believism of the vast majority of evangelical churches in America.
“God has chosen his elect to be saved by his grace through faith in Jesus Christ. Ephesians 1:3-9; 2:8-10. God imbues his elect with the faith needed to believe in Jesus. Hebrews 12:2; John 1:12-13. The devil’s false gospel contradicts the word of God and reverses the order of things. Under the anti-gospel, instead of a sovereign God choosing his elect, sovereign man decides whether to choose God.” – Edward Hendrie
I encourage you to get a copy of Hendrie’s book and read it with an open mind. It will expose so many lies that have been sown in American churches today in order to fill pews and encourage tithes. Understanding of God’s sovereign role in regenerating his elect so that they are able to believe the gospel and serve him acceptably will humble you to your core. You were not smart enough, or humble enough, or good enough to come to saving faith on your own. You were chosen by God and created for this glory. For the elect that is incredibly good news and you can rejoice in the knowledge that your salvation was settled in heaven from the foundation of the world. But for the reprobate this is complete and utter foolishness.
“Who can say, I have made my heart clean, I am pure from my sin?” Proverbs 20:9.
But that is what the unregenerate say when they claim that they believed to righteousness by their own sovereign act of will. Hendrie will use his skill as a legal scholar to rightly divide the Bible and set the record straight on the root of so many false doctrines popular today.
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Great post! Can't wait to read this.