"He was called the Friend of God."
James 2:23
Fatalism
Should a Person who Loves and Trusts the Lord Jesus Christ Believe the Fatalistic Doctrines of:
Total Depravity of Man, Unconditional Election, Limited Atonement and Irresistible Grace?
WHAT IS FATALISM
Fatalism is the belief that all events are predetermined and therefore inevitable, and that humans are not able to alter what has been predestined.
Rather than to label the two opposing positions by the names of men, Armin and Calvin, it is best to label the two positions by what they claim. One claims Free Will and the other claims Fatalism.
Fatalism or Fatalistic Calvinism will say that God is sovereign and has the right to do as He wills, and if He chooses to predetermine man’s choices by Irresistible Grace according to Unconditional Election, then God has the right to do that.
The issue is that the Bible does not reveal that God did that.
The Bible reveals that God has given man choice, and that man by his choice determines his own eternal destiny.
Deuteronomy 30:19 “I call heaven and earth to record this day against you, that I have set before you life and death, blessing and cursing: therefore choose life, that both thou and thy seed may live:“
God says He has set the choice before man and then counseled man to choose life so he can live. Joshua 24:15a “And if it seem evil unto you to serve the LORD, choose you this day whom ye will serve;”
God always sets before His creation a choice, but what will we choose? Life or Death? To serve God or not serve God? Heaven or Hell?
The Bible reveals that man will be in the eternal bliss of Heaven or the eternal suffering of Hell based on man’s choice.
Isaiah 1:18-
Luke 13:3,5 “I tell you, Nay: but, except ye repent, ye shall all likewise perish.”
God gives us a choice, therefore, God asks us to beg the lost to make the right choice and obey God too.
2 Corinthians 5:20 “Now then we are ambassadors for Christ, as though God did beseech you by us: we pray you in Christ’s stead, be ye reconciled to God.”
God, Himself begs the lost to make the right choice and obey God.
Matthew 23:37 “O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, thou that killest the prophets, and stonest them which are sent unto thee, how often would I have gathered thy children together, even as a hen gathereth her chickens under her wings, and ye would not!”
God gave Israel a choice, His chosen people, but many would not choose the Lord though He sent the prophets unto them. God never wanted them to just be created and die in their sin.
Ezekiel 18:31 “Cast away from you all your transgressions, whereby ye have transgressed; and make you a new heart and a new spirit: for why will ye die, O house of Israel?”
God wants everyone to be saved and no one to perish.
1 Timothy 2:3-
Scripture is explicitly clear that God’s will is for everyone to be saved.
So…Who can resist His will?
Only those He has given power to resist His will. This means everyone of us has been given the power or self authority to resist His will. 2 Peter 3:9 “The Lord is not slack concerning his promise, as some men count slackness; but is longsuffering to us-
Yet everyone is not saved and many do perish. Why? They resist His will. How? Who can resist God’s will? Only those who He gives the power to choose and the power to resist His will. Man has been given this power, and man has been crowned by the Sovereign God with the sovereignty of choice. Therefore, man can choose to resist His will to be saved and man can choose to not repent and perish.
It is not that God gives to some the power to choose Him and to others no power. God gives to all men the power to choose or not to choose Him.
The controversy of Fatalism (Fatalistic Calvinism) comes from Paul’s teachings in the epistles. Peter acknowledged that some things that Paul wrote were difficult to understand.
2 Peter 3:15-
Some may argue that the King James Version of the Bible is hard to understand in modern day language, yet the King James Version has shaped our English language, and also current theology. Interestingly, it should also be noted that two of the key translators of the King James Version were noted as holding to the Fatalistic Calvinism point of view.
Dr. George Abbott, Bishop of Litchfield and Dr. Miles Smith, Bishop of Gloucester.
SALVATION IS A GIFT FROM GOD, FAITH IS NOT A GIFT FROM GOD
The book of Ephesians gives us a good example to study that salvation is a gift of God, but that faith is not a gift from God.
Ephesians 2:8 “For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God:”
The question in this verse is, “what is ‘it is the gift of God’ referring to?” Is “it is the gift of God” referring to salvation (“are ye saved”)? Or is “it is the gift of God” referring to faith? In the Greek language the antecedent (“it is”) must be the same gender as the noun it is referring to. Faith is a feminine noun and salvation is a neuter noun. If the “it is” refers to faith then the “it is” has to be in the feminine form. If the “it is” refers to salvation then the “it is” must be in the neuter form. The “it is” is in the neuter form.
Therefore, the Greek makes it clear from the gender of the “it is” that the gift of God in Ephesians 2:8 is salvation, and not faith.
Salvation is a gift from God, faith is not a gift from God. This is in keeping with Romans 6:23 which states that “the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.” John Calvin also stated that the gift of God referred to in Ephesians 2:8 is salvation and not faith. The problem with Fatalistic Calvinism (apart from it being the basis for Islam and many other false religions) is that it does not agree with all of the “whosoever will” invitations of the Lord Jesus Christ. If Fatalistic Calvinism is true then it makes the Lord Jesus Christ to be a person without integrity. If Fatalistic Calvinism is true then it makes the evangelist who pleads and weeps for the lost to be a fool.
A PERSONAL CRISIS OF OBEDIENCE
In life we become faced with our own personal crisis of obedience. Scripture clearly tells us that we are commanded to love God with all our heart, and with all our soul, and with all our mind, and with all our strength. God, in the person of the Lord Jesus Christ, said specifically in Matthew 22:37 that we should love the Lord with all our mind. The Greek word used there for mind refers to understanding or deep thought. That means that we should deeply think about what the Lord Jesus Christ did and said, in order to bring us to a love of Him with all our being.
When we love the Lord Jesus Christ with all our being we have a wall of the fortress that will enable us to withstand the crisis of obedience.
Loving the Lord with all our heart, soul and mind is the greatest commandment because it will enable us to obey God.
To love the Lord with all our heart, soul and mind puts the personality of God as a factor to the commandments of God.
We can see God’s personality reflected in Exodus chapter 19 as God commands His people.
Exodus 19:5 “Now therefore, if ye will obey my voice indeed, and keep my covenant, then ye shall be a peculiar treasure unto me above all people: for all the earth is mine:”
When we love God with all our heart, soul, and mind, we go through the transformation of seeing the commandments of God as not just cold, hard words on tables of stone, but we now see the commandments as the voice of God whom we love with all our heart, soul, and mind. That transformation makes the difference during our personal crisis of obedience.
PERSONAL CRISIS OF OBEDIENCE – 3 PRINCIPLES
PRINCIPLE #1: Loving the Lord with all our heart, soul, mind, and strength makes the difference in our personal crisis of obedience.
Loving the Lord with all the heart and soul and mind is the wall that keeps us in obedience to God.
Why does loving the Lord make us obey God? Psalms chapter 5 gives us the answer.
Psalms 5:11 “But let all those that put their trust in thee rejoice: let them ever shout for joy, because thou defendest them: let them also that love thy name be joyful in thee.”
PRINCIPLE #2: We trust who we love.
Proverbs 29:25 “The fear of man bringeth a snare: but whoso putteth his trust in the LORD shall be safe.”
If we trust God we will love God. But, if we don’t trust God then we won’t love God. If we see God make statements to others that are not really true and that cannot really be trusted, then we will not trust God in the statements He makes to us. If we do not trust God then we will not love God.
PRINCIPLE #3: Trusting God keeps us from sinning against God.
The greatest ability of our enemy, Satan, is described in the second letter to the Thessalonians.
2 Thessalonians 2:10 “And with all deceivableness of unrighteousness in them that perish; because they received not the love of the truth, that they might be saved.”
The devil has a tremendous ability to deceive, to trick, and to make a person absolutely convinced about something that is a lie. This verse tells us Satan’s deceptive plan.
Satan’s goal with his deception is to make people turn away from receiving a love of the truth so they will not be saved.
This verse also tells us that God wants to give people a special gift – it is called “the love of the truth” and when people receive that gift called “the love of the truth” then they will be saved. Finally, this verse tells us that Satan is using all of his “deceivableness of unrighteousness” to turn people away from the “the love of the truth” and to keep them from being saved.
SATAN GOT PEOPLE TO NOT BELIEVE GOD ABOUT “WHOSOEVER”
Let’s look at the words of the Lord Jesus Christ about “whosoever”, meaning who can be saved or how a person is saved:
John 3:16 “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.”
Revelation 22:17b “And whosoever will, let him take the water of life freely.”
Matthew 10:32 “Whosoever therefore shall confess me before men, him will I confess also before my Father which is in heaven.“
John 4:14 “Whosoever drinketh of the water that I shall give him shall never thirst; but the water that I shall give him shall be in him a well of water springing up into everlasting life.”
Acts 2:21 “And it shall come to pass, that whosoever shall call on the name of the Lord shall be saved.”
1 Timothy 2:3b-4 “…God our Savior who will have all men to be saved, and to come unto the knowledge of the truth.”
God is saying here that whosoever will may come, whosoever will can be saved. These are promises that the Lord Jesus Christ made. We have seen that the Bible says that God desires all to come to Him for salvation and that He wants no one to perish. God has said that salvation and not perishing is all up to man’s choice to repent and believe or not. Titus 2:11 “For the grace of God that bringeth salvation hath appeared to all men,”
2 Peter 3:9 “The Lord is…not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance.”
Luke 13:3 “I tell you, Nay: but, except ye repent, ye shall all likewise perish.”
God does not want anyone to be lost and separated from Him for eternity. God did not make Hell for man. God said that Hell was prepared for the devil and his fallen angels, not for man. God warned all men about the horrors of Hell so that all men repent and believe and not go to Hell. Matthew 25:41 “Then shall he say also unto them on the left hand, Depart from me, ye cursed, into everlasting fire, prepared for the devil and his angels:”
Luke 16:23a “And in hell he lift up his eyes, being in torments…”
Mark 9:43b-44a “…hell, into the fire that never shall be quenched: Where their worm dieth not…”
2 Thessalonians 1:8 “In flaming fire taking vengeance on them that know not God, and that obey not the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ:”
We know what all these verses are saying on the surface. They are saying that the Lord Jesus Christ, who is God, so loved every person in the world and that He wants every person in the world (or the whosoever’s) to be saved. God’s will, His desire and want, is that no one perish into eternal Hell, fire and damnation. That’s why the Lord Jesus Christ is warning everyone about Hell and that it is a place of fire and torment and non-stop suffering. He says that ultimately each person alone is responsible for going to Hell. How? By their refusal to repent as He said, “Except ye repent ye shall all likewise perish.” (Luke 13:3b, 5b)
The Lord Jesus Christ is pleading and begging everyone to come to Him and be saved. Just look at His plea in Matthew 23:37 “O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, how often would I have gathered…ye would not.” He is implying that the only reason people do not come to Him is because each person wills not to.
We all have a choice like Joshua and Israel
Joshua told Israel that they had a choice to choose the LORD and serve Him. They chose the LORD.
Joshua 24:22 “And Joshua said unto the people, Ye are witnesses against yourselves that ye have chosen you the LORD, to serve him. And they said, We are witnesses.”
Everyone has a choice as well…to believe God and “whosoever will”…or to believe a fatalistic lie about God
WHAT IF GOD MISLED AND LIED?
Consider this, what about if what God has said is not really accurate? What about if He has misled? What about if God said that the door was wide open for anyone to come to be saved, but that was misleading and not really true because He knew that the only ones who could come through the door of salvation are those who are on a “secret list” called the “Unconditionally Elected.”
What if God misled or lied about the door being open to anyone? Would this understanding with your mind cause your love and admiration for Him to be eroded? Would your trust, love and admiration for the Lord Jesus Christ continue if you found Him to be a liar?
What about even though He said that there was no limit as to who could be saved and receive the atonement…that that was misleading and not really true. What about if He knew all along as He was saying atonement was unlimited that the reality is that there is “Limited Atonement” only for those on that “secret list” of the “Unconditionally Elected?” What if God misled or lied about the atonement being unlimited? Would your love and admiration for Him be eroded?
What if God said that the list of who gets into Heaven is determined only by each person’s decision to obey the Gospel, but that that was misleading and not really true because in reality God alone just put a “secret list” together of the “Unconditionally Elected” to receive the “Limited Atonement” with no consideration of whether or not a person decided to come to Him or not?
What if God misled or lied over the only one responsible for the going to Hell or Heaven was the individual sinner? Would your love and admiration for Him be as strong?
What about if God said, “whosoever will”, but that was misleading and not really true because He knew that who is saved is not ultimately determined by what He said, but is determined by a special group of the “whosoever” which are the “whosoever is on the secret list” of the “Unconditionally Elected?” What if that is the case? What if God misled or lied over salvation being available to whosoever wills? Would your love and admiration for Him be eroded?
What about if the Lord Jesus Christ was pleading and weeping over all Jerusalem because they rejected His salvation, but He was misleading and not being truthful because His tears were
disingenuous because He really knew that they could not come to Him unless they were on the secret list of the
“Unconditionally Elected.”
What if God misled or lied over His sadness about the decision of each lost person who ends in Hell? Why would He weep over the decision of the lost to disobey, when the lost could not decide to obey unless they are on the secret list? Would your love and admiration for Him be as strong?
What about if God has a limited secret injection called “Irresistible Grace?” What about if He said that going to Heaven was all up to the individual, and that all a person had to do was to repent and obey the Gospel, but that was misleading and not really true because He knew that everyone is so “Totally Depraved” that the only way anyone can come to the Lord Jesus to be saved is if they get that limited secret injection of “Irresistible Grace.”
What if a person was a puppet controlled by God with the puppet string of “Irresistible Grace?” What if a saved person did not have any free will at all, but was a puppet? What if God misled or lied over the sinner’s independent ability to repent and be saved? Would your love and admiration for Him be as strong?
What about if God said that man alone is responsible for going to Heaven or Hell, but that was misleading and not really true because He knew all along that only God controls who gets that limited amount of the secret injection called “Irresistible Grace.” What if God misled or lied over who is responsible for a destiny of Heaven or Hell? Would your love and admiration for Him be as strong?
What about if God only gives that limited injection to those who are on His “secret list”? What about if the Lord Jesus Christ said, “Except ye repent, ye shall all likewise perish,” but He misled and did not really tell the truth because He really knew that unless they get that limited secret injection of “Irresistible Grace” that they will all perish? What if God misled or lied about how getting into Heaven was all about a person’s individual repentance? Would your love and admiration for Him be as strong?
What if God misled and lied about all those things? Would your love and admiration for Him be as strong?
What if your mother, father, and family members were in Hell now and in torment? What if, similar to how Abraham talked to a rich man in Hell, you could talk with them? What if they said to you that from the words of the Lord Jesus Christ they understood that they were personally and ultimately responsible for being in Hell because they could have been saved by receiving Him, but they chose to reject him? What if you told your parents and family that for the eternity of their sufferings that they should remember that they were misled and lied to because in reality they could not accept the invitation? Because they were “Totally Depraved,” and they could not have been saved because their name was not on the “secret list” of the “Unconditionally Elected.”
Furthermore, there was never any atonement available to them, because there was a “Limited Atonement,” and ultimately they were excluded from the start and because their name was not on the “secret list,” and they were not injected with the limited supply of the “Irresistible Grace” that they needed to be enabled to be saved. If you had to tell your family in Hell that they had been misled and lied to about being able to be saved and be in Heaven, would your love and admiration for the Lord Jesus Christ be as strong?
If all that was true (which it is not), could you admire, love, and trust a person like that? A person who misleads, and lies, and invites people to be saved when He knows that they can’t be saved? When you give the deep thought for your understanding to grasp those misleadings and lies, can you really love a person like that with all your mind?
That is the great deception that is sweeping through the church today and it is eroding in the people of God their admiration, love, and trust of God.
Whether you call it Fatalism (which it is) or Calvinism, it is to be repudiated. Why? Because it defames the character of our God by calling Him a misleader and a liar. If we believe that God misleads and lies over the issue of who can be saved, and how they are saved, then our admiration, love, and trust in God has been eroded. Defamation of God has always been the work of Satan, and trying to get people to believe that God is a misleader and a liar. Once the Devil has succeeded to get us to believe this lie about God (as he did with Eve) then He has succeeded in breaking down our wall of love and trust of God. Next he’ll set us up to fail in our personal crisis of obedience.
There was a time when the disciples of the Lord were so excited to show the Lord the great buildings of the Temple. They had taken decades to construct them, and they were so beautiful. The disciples wanted to show the Lord the buildings so they could admire them together.
Matthew 24:1-4 “And Jesus went out, and departed from the temple: and his disciples came to him for to shew him the buildings of the temple. And Jesus said unto them, See ye not all these things? verily I say unto you, There shall not be left here one stone upon another, that shall not be thrown down. And as he sat upon the mount of Olives, the disciples came unto him privately, saying, Tell us, when shall these things be? and what shall be the sign of thy coming, and of the end of the world? And Jesus answered and said unto them, Take heed that no man deceive you.”
The Lord rained on the disciple’s parade by telling them that all the buildings would be totally destroyed and not one stone would be left on another. In shock, the disciples understood that He was talking to them about the end, so they came to Him privately with two questions. When would these things happen, and how can they know the sign when He is coming? The Lord seemed to give them a frustrating answer that left them saying, “Why can’t He ever give us a straight answer?” But, He did answer it when He said, “Take heed that no man deceive you.” He warned them that Satan with all his “deceivableness of unrighteousness” would in the last days come with such a strong deception that it will threaten you.
Satan’s deception will come to you like a great light that goes on inside you, and you will be so happy to have discovered this “new truth” in the Scriptures, but it will be a deception. This false truth will deceive man, and will sweep through the church. It will be a deception that will erode the love for God, because it will defame His character and make people turn away from God.
If some do or don’t speak in tongues, or if some do or don’t roll on the floor and laugh hysterically, that practice does not in any way defame the character of God. If some do and some don’t believe you should worship on Saturday or Sunday, that does not in any way defame the character of God. But, to believe the fatalistic doctrines behind the “secret list” of the “Unconditionally Elected” and the “secret injection” of “Irresistible Grace,” “Limited Atonement,” and the “Total Depravity” of man, in the face of all that the Lord Jesus Christ has said, that is to believe that He has misled and lied. That is why those fatalistic doctrines must be thrown down in order to maintain our admiration and love to the one who is described as:
Isaiah 53:9b “…neither was any deceit in his mouth.”
John 8:45a “tell you the truth…”
John 16:7 “tell you the truth…”
We may not understand every verse in the Bible about election and predestination, but we are sharp enough to understand that when any new doctrine erodes our admiration, love and trust in God that it has to be rejected. All throughout the Bible we are commanded to love God with all of our heart, soul, and mind, and to put our trust in Him. In order for us to trust a person we must never see that person misleading or lying to anyone. If we see a person that we love misleading or lying to another, we may still love him (though not as much), but we will not trust him because we will naturally be suspicious that he might mislead or lie to us.
THE CALVINIST ROAD
Hello, would you let me show you from the Bible why you should not be anxious or worried about if you will be in Heaven or Hell for eternity?
According to the Bible, the saved are going to Heaven, and the lost are going to Hell and lake of fire according to:
Revelation 20:15 “And whosoever was not found written in the book of life was cast into the lake of fire.”
Every person is either going to Heaven or to Hell. As we have seen, Hell is described as a lake of fire. According to the Bible, Hell is further described as a place of incredible, eternal suffering where people are tormented with unending thirst, pains from burns, worms, shame and frustration. Once a person is cast into this lake of fire there is no hope of ever leaving.
Luke 16:23-24 “And in hell he lift up his eyes, being in torments, and seeth Abraham afar off, and Lazarus in his bosom. And he cried and said, Father Abraham, have mercy on me, and send Lazarus, that he may dip the tip of his finger in water, and cool my tongue; for I am tormented in this flame.”
Mark 9:43-44 “And if thy hand offend thee, cut it off: it is better for thee to enter into life maimed, than having two hands to go into hell, into the fire that never shall be quenched: Where their worm dieth not, and the fire is not quenched.”
Daniel 12:2 “And many of them that sleep in the dust of the earth shall awake, some to everlasting life, and some to shame and everlasting contempt.”
# 1 – You are Totally Depraved and there is nothing you can do to change that.
Psalms 51:5 “Behold, I was shapen in iniquity; and in sin did my mother conceive me.”
This verse means that you were born in sin and this has left you Totally Depraved. I am going to tell you how you can be saved from Hell by simply believing the Bible’s message and accepting God’s invitation to receive Him. But, because you are Totally Depraved you have absolutely no ability to believe this saving message and you have no ability in yourself to accept God’s invitation. The reason you have no ability to believe what I am going to tell you is because you are Totally Depraved.
I am going to speak to you as if you have the ability to choose to obey God, but, in reality you really have no real choice in this matter because you are Totally Depraved. Since I will offer God’s salvation to you it appears that you have a choice to determine if you will spend eternity in Heaven or Hell, but this is not really true because the choice has already been made for you. So, don’t worry if you will spend eternity in Heaven or Hell because there is nothing you can do to change the choice that was made for you before you were born.
# 2 – You either are or are not Unconditionally Elected and there is nothing you can do to change that.
Ephesians 1:4-5 “According as he hath chosen us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before him in love: Having predestinated us unto the adoption of children by Jesus Christ to himself, according to the good pleasure of his will,”
This verse means that God has made the choice for you and His choice determines if you will spend eternity in Heaven or Hell. This choice was made for you before the world was created. If He chose you before the foundation of the world then you are on a “secret list” called the “Unconditionally Elected” and you will spend eternity in Heaven. I don’t know if you are on that list and you don’t know if you are on that list, only God knows if you are on that list, which is why it is a “secret list.”
If He did not choose you before the foundation of the world then you are not on that secret list and you will spend eternity in Hell. If you are on that list and it has been decided for you to go to Heaven there is nothing you can do to get off that list. If you are not on that list and it has been decided for you to go to Hell there is absolutely nothing you can do to get on the list. NO additions to the list are allowed. Those that are on that list are Unconditionally Elected to be on that list. So, in either case don’t worry because there is absolutely nothing you can do to change whether or not you are on that list. There is nothing you can do to change whether or not you are going to Heaven or to Hell.
# 3 – The Death of the Lord Jesus Christ was a Limited Atonement that paid only for the sins of those on the secret list of the Unconditionally Elected. Your sins either were or were not paid for and there is nothing you can do to change that.
Matthew 1:21 “And she shall bring forth a son, and thou shalt call his name JESUS: for he shall save his people from their sins.”
This verse means that the Lord Jesus Christ only died for the Unconditionally Elected. If you are on the list of the Unconditionally Elected then He died for you and He paid for yours sins. His paying for sins or atonement was limited to just those on the list of the Unconditionally Elected. If you are on that list, don’t worry, because your sins have been paid for. If you are not on that list, your sins are not paid for, but, don’t worry, because there is nothing you can do to have His death pay for your sins. In either case, don’t worry, there is nothing you can do to change who are the limited beneficiaries of His Limited Atonement death.
# 4 – You either will or will not receive from God Irresistible Grace to make you believe so you can be saved.
Ephesians 2:8 “For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God:”
This verse means that a person is saved from spending eternity in Hell by a saving faith. This verse teaches that no one has the ability to have this saving faith unless it is given to him as a gift from God. The only people who receive this saving faith gift of God are those on the “secret list” of the Unconditionally Elected. Those that are so fortunate to be chosen to receive this saving faith gift of God are on that “secret list.” Those that receive this saving faith gift from God cannot resist receiving it. It is a gift that is an Irresistible Grace. That saving faith is an Irresistible Grace.
If you are on that list then you will receive the irresistible, saving faith, gift from God to keep you from spending eternity in Hell. If you are not on that list then you will not receive the irresistible, saving faith, gift from God to keep you from spending eternity in Hell. In either case you cannot change who is on the list and who will receive this irresistible, saving faith, gift from God that keeps a person from spending eternity in Hell. Don’t worry, because you cannot change whether or not you will receive this irresistible, saving faith gift from God that will keep you from spending eternity in Hell.
Because you are Totally Depraved, I hope you are on the list of the Unconditionally Elected so that God’s Limited Atonement will pay for your sins and so that you will receive the limited Irresistible Grace of saving faith gift from God to keep you from spending eternity in Hell. But again, who will spend eternity in Heaven and Hell has already been decided by God, so don’t worry.
Now, let’s try and figure out if you are one of those fortunate ones on the secret list of the Unconditionally Elected.
Acts 16:31 “And they said, Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved, and thy house.”
If you can believe then, even though you are Totally Depraved, you must be on the list of the Unconditionally Elected to be a beneficiary of the Limited Atonement and receive the Irresistible Grace to save you from Hell.
The above tract reflects the Fatalistic Calvinism position and the tract is really an honest transparent explanation of that position.
What would any person who applies his understanding and deep thought think of such a position?
CHOSEN AND CHANGED CHILDREN
Upon review of all of the references in the King James Version regarding “predestination,” “foreordination,” or God deciding from the “foundation of the world,” all of these verses specifically refer to what would happen to a person after they repented and made their own decisions to obey God. Therefore, they are called to being adopted by God, into a life of God’s purpose, into a life of holiness and without blame, and they are to be conformed to the image of the Lord Jesus Christ. They have been called to be changed children. Let’s look at Romans chapter 8 and Ephesians chapter 1.
Romans 8:29 “For whom He (GOD) did foreknow, He (GOD) also did predestinate to be conformed to the image of his Son, that He might be the firstborn among many brethren.”
1 Peter 1:2 “Elect according to the foreknowledge of God the Father, through sanctification of the Spirit, unto obedience and sprinkling of the blood of Jesus Christ: Grace unto you, and peace, be multiplied.”
Notice that God foreknew all about us before we were born. God foreknew who would choose to obey His Gospel invitation and repent of their sins.
Based on God’s omnipotent foreknowledge of who would repent and believe, He predestined them to be conformed to the image of His Son.
God didn’t predestine people to die.
God has called those who freely choose Him to live and be conformed to His son just as Israel had a choice (Deuteronomy 30:19). Based on God’s foreknowledge of knowing who would repent and believe, they choose God’s will to be saved, and God elected them to be obedient to Him and be cleansed by the blood of the Lord Jesus Christ.
These key verses show us that all of God’s decisions regarding predestination and foreordination are based on God’s foreknowledge (God looking down the tunnel of time). All of God’s predestination and foreordination follows a person’s free choice to repent and turn to God. Then God gives him what He has predestined to give him which are free gifts of life in the Holy Spirit’s quickening, salvation, adoption, conformation to the image of His son, inheritance, etc.
Ephesians 1:4 “According as He hath chosen us in Him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before Him in love:”
This verse is not stating that God chose who would repent and believe. When Paul speaks to “us” and “we” in this verse He is speaking to those who already have repented and believed. The “us” and the “we” are the group that have already made their decision to repent and believe.
Paul is saying, “Since God knew who we were who would choose God, He started from before the foundation of the world to choose us in Him and to help us to go on from our decision to be saved and choose to live a life of holiness and without blame before God.”
In other words, we chose God and God chose us. We chose to obey God’s Gospel call and God chose us to live holy lives.
We all chose to obey God at different times in our lives, but God chose us all to live holy lives before the foundation of the world. In the next verse Paul goes on to elaborate more on what God predestinated for us who have decided to choose God.
Ephesians 1:5 “Having predestinated us unto the adoption of children by Jesus Christ to Himself, according to the good pleasure of His will.”
Continuing to address the “we” that have chosen God, Paul is explaining that not only has God chosen us to live holy lives, but that God predestinated us to be adopted as sons of God. Here again it is a case where we chose God and God chose us.
God, knowing who would choose Him, decided before they were born to choose them to become adopted as sons of God.
Children of God or sons of God copy God in their lives. (IRM logotype) (Careers button)
Let’s look at all four of the past verses we’ve studied together in context:
God foreknew and predestined us = To be conformed to the image of His Son. (Romans 8:29)
Elect according to the foreknowledge of God the Father = To sanctification of the Spirit. (I Peter 1:2)
God chose us in Him before the foundation of the world = To be holy and without blame. (Ephesians 1:4)
God predestinated us unto the adoption of children by
Jesus Christ to himself = To his will. (Ephesians 1:5)
God knows, but we don’t know in advance, but we chose God, and God chose us. Because God knew us, God predestined, elected, and chose us to then be conformed to the image of His Son, to be sanctified by the Spirit of God in personal holiness, all in His will and good pleasure for our lives in Him.
I am a business owner, and if I hung a sign outside of my business that said, “Cantor and Sons,” you would assume that my sons are partners with me, and that I and my sons would all operate in the same way. Paul is saying in Ephesians 1:4-5 that God has hung a sign for the world to see of “God and Sons.”
We are the sons that God has brought into His business.
This is brought out both by the Lord Jesus Christ in the Sermon on the Mount and Paul in explaining God’s call for us to be those who bring reconciliation between God and man.
Matthew 5:44-45 “But I say unto you, Love your enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate you, and pray for them which despitefully use you, and persecute you; That ye may be the children of your Father which is in heaven: for He maketh his sun to rise on the evil and on the good, and sendeth rain on the just and on the unjust.”
2 Corinthians 5:20 “Now then we are ambassadors for Christ, as though God did beseech you by us: we pray you in Christ’s stead, be ye reconciled to God.”
We are the children and ambassadors of God who has brought us into His business to do as He desires. But the Bible reveals that it is only to the saved (those who have chosen to repent and believe) that God has “predesinated,” “foreordained” or “chosen before the foundation of the world,” to be in His business. All of those terms refer to the wonderful things God does to the saved.
None of these words “predesinated,” “foreordained” or “chosen before the foundation of the world,” are ever used about the lost.
God does not predestine those who will refuse Him and be sent to Hell. Rather, God wants all to choose God, and be brought into God’s business. Think of God’s business plan as this.
FATALISTIC CALVINISM IS FATAL FOR LOVE AND TRUST OF THE LORD JESUS CHRIST
There was a day when the Lord Jesus Christ was asked by a lawyer the question of what is the great commandment in the law, and He responded and answered in Matthew chapter 22.
Matthew 22:36-38 “Master, which is the great commandment in the law? Jesus said unto him, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind. This is the first and great commandment.”
This greatest commandment spoken of by Jesus was also quoted from the great Shema – the “creed of the Jewish people” given to them by God through Moses.
Deuteronomy 6:4-6 “Hear, O Israel: The LORD our God is one LORD: And thou shalt love the LORD thy God with all thine heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy might. And these words, which I command thee this day, shall be in thine heart:”
Why is to “love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind” the greatest commandment? Because our love for the Lord Jesus Christ will keep us in personal crisis of obedience.
JOSEPH’S PERSONAL CRISIS OF OBEDIENCE
Let’s look at how this loving God fully transformation made the difference in Joseph’s personal crisis of obedience in Genesis chapter 39.
Genesis 39:7-9 “And it came to pass after these things, that his master’s wife cast her eyes upon Joseph; and she said, Lie with me. But he refused, and said unto his master’s wife, Behold, my master wotteth not what is with me in the house, and he hath committed all that he hath to my hand; There is none greater in this house than I; neither hath he kept back any thing from me but thee, because thou art his wife: how then can I do this great wickedness, and sin against God?”
This was Joseph’s personal crisis of obedience! Joseph was in the prime of his youth, a young, unmarried, red blooded man with sex hormones racing through his blood. And here was a beautiful Madame. She looked good, she smelled good, she was seductive and there she was everyday alone with Joseph presenting herself to Joseph like fruit on the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, “pleasant to the eyes…and to be desired.” And Joseph was far from the eyes of anyone and that bed was so secluded.
It was the perfect storm and Joseph was in a daily personal crisis of obedience.
How was Joseph able to resist that perfect storm temptation? What made the difference for Joseph? It was the last words of Genesis 39:9b, “…how then can I do this great wickedness, and sin against God?”
Beyond just wronging his master, which it would have been, beyond just failing in his responsibility to be trusted, which it would have been, Joseph’s actions would be a personal offense to the God that he loved with all his heart, soul, and mind. Loving God with all his heart, soul and mind made the difference for Joseph that kept Joseph from sinning in his personal crisis of obedience.
SATAN TURNS PEOPLE FROM THE LOVE OF THE TRUTH
How is Satan turning people away from receiving the love of the truth from God? Satan is deceiving people as to who God is! Satan makes people believe that God is a really bad person who needs to be avoided, a really bad person who needs to be run from, a really bad person to hate, and a really bad person to never love with all your heart, soul, and mind. Satan makes people think that God’s statements cannot be trusted. Satan defames God and when he gets us to believe something that is defaming about God then we don’t love God with all our mind and the wall is broken down and this sets us up to disobey God.
Let’s see where this has made the difference. In Matthew 25, there is an account of a really good man who gave to his servants different amounts of money called “talents.” This really good man asked them to use the talents to make money. In this parable the good master represents God and the different servants represent the different people who obey and do not obey God. The first two men went out and made good profits with the money they were given, and they were really happy to present to their master what they gained for him.
But, the last man did not obey his master, and he had a personal crisis of obedience and he failed. We can see why in Matthew chapter 25.
Matthew 25:24-30 “Then he which had received the one talent came and said, Lord, I knew thee that thou art an hard man, reaping where thou hast not sown, and gathering where thou hast not strawed: And I was afraid, and went and hid thy talent in the earth: lo, there thou hast that is thine. His lord answered and said unto him, Thou wicked and slothful servant, thou knewest that I reap where I sowed not, and gather where I have not strawed: Thou oughtest therefore to have put my money to the exchangers, and then at my coming I should have received mine own with usury. Take therefore the talent from him, and give it unto him which hath ten talents. For unto every one that hath shall be given, and he shall have abundance: but from him that hath not shall be taken away even that which he hath. And cast ye the unprofitable servant into outer darkness: there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth.”
Satan got this person to believe a lie that God was not who He was.
Satan got this servant to believe that the master (God) was a hard man and he reaped where he had not sown. It was not true, but Satan convinced the person to believe that his master was not trustworthy and not to be loved. And this person believed that lie and so this person said about his master, “Yuck, I don’t like a person like that, and I certainly don’t love him with all my heart, soul, and mind.” Thus, in his personal crisis of obedience he failed to obey because he had come to the conclusions of, “I don’t love him, I don’t trust Him, and I won’t obey him.”
Why? Because he believed the lie about his master, and he did not trust him, he did not obey him, and he was cast into outer darkness where there is weeping and gnashing of teeth. And Satan won. Satan won what? He was successful in deceiving that person to believe a lie about the master and he blocked him from loving and trusting him. He was successful in getting this person to not choose God which eventuated in this person being cast into Hell.
Let’s look at Eve’s personal crisis of obedience in the Garden of Eden.
Genesis 3:5-6 “For God doth know that in the day ye eat thereof, then your eyes shall be opened, and ye shall be as gods, knowing good and evil. And when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was pleasant to the eyes, and a tree to be desired to make one wise, she took of the fruit thereof, and did eat, and gave also unto her husband with her; and he did eat.”
Eve started off with the protective wall of admiration and love for God. Eve loved the Lord with all her heart, soul, and mind. She admired God. Seeing that love, Satan was not going to be able to get Eve to sin unless he eroded her love and trust in God. Satan knew he had to do that with a lie about God, a defamation of God, and that is what verse 5 of Genesis chapter 3 reveals.
Genesis 3:5 “For God doth know that in the day ye eat thereof, then your eyes shall be opened, and ye shall be as gods, knowing good and evil.”
Essentially, Satan was saying, “Eve, God knows that you will be much better off if you eat that fruit. You cannot trust God’s words to you. God is a person who has lied to you. God is holding you down, and keeping you in darkness. You don’t love a person who lies, and you don’t love a person who holds you down, and keeps you in darkness.”
Satan got Eve to believe a lie that God misled and lied to her.
Once Eve believed that lie, once Eve believed that defamation about God… Eve did not love God first anymore. Eve did not trust God anymore. Eve then disobeyed God and failed in her personal crisis of obedience.
Satan had succeeded with his great deceivableness in getting Eve to believe a lie that defamed the character of God. Satan got Eve to believe that God misleads and lies. When she believed that lie that defamed God’s character she lost her love for God, lost her trust in God, and ultimately she disobeyed God.
Satan has the same goal for us; to break down our wall of admiration and love for God so that we will fail in our personal crisis of obedience. The end of that goal is to get us to believe a lie that defames the character of God. Satan’s goal and will for us is to get us to believe that God misleads and is a liar.
Today there are many lies that have affected the lost and even Christians. The Devil has succeeded greatly with one lie in particular that has swept through the church. Satan has gotten many in churches today to no longer believe God when He says “whosoever;” meaning anyone can be saved.
GOD DIED FOR EVERY PERSON ON EARTH
The Lord Jesus Christ is telling everyone that the choice is 100% up to them. What do they have to do? All they have to do is come to Him for Life, all they have to do is receive Him for Life, all they have to do is believe in Him for Life. It is 100% up to everyone to determine their own ultimate destiny of Heaven or Hell and all they have to do is call on His name.
The issue is not that God has to be fair to let everyone into Heaven. Why? Because all have sinned and all deserve Hell and no one deserves Heaven! The real issue is that in these verses He has said that:
He wants everyone to be saved and enter Heaven.
He has commanded everyone to be saved.
He wants no one to perish.
He has done everything possible for every person to be saved and come to Heaven.
There is only one reason that any person is not saved, and does not come to Heaven. What is it? It is because that person has willfully chosen on his own to refuse. People will be sent to Hell because they refused on their own accord not to obey His command to be saved.
And if that is the accurate picture then we admire Him, and we love Him with all our heart, and soul, and mind, and we trust Him because:
He is not misleading.
He is the truth teller (and we know God is not a man that should like – Numbers 23:19).
He has been 100% transparent and there are no other truths or reasons for a person to not be saved and enter Heaven, other than what He said plainly, in that it is a matter of each person’s choice to obey or disobey the Gospel.
Because we have seen Him and we understand with our minds that He is telling the whole truth, and nothing but the truth about who can be saved and go to Heaven, we are then drawn in to admire Him, love Him, and trust Him. And that admiration and love and trust is the wall that keeps us in our crisis of obedience to Him.
GOD HAS PROMISED THAT HE WILL NEVER MISLEAD OR LIE
Numbers 23:19a “God is not a man, that he should lie;”
Isaiah 53:9a “Neither was any deceit in his mouth”
John 8:45a “I tell you the truth…”
As we have seen, the Lord Jesus Christ as God stated the following:
1. If anyone repents, they will not perish.
2. If anyone believes on Him, he will have eternal life and not perish.
3. If anyone calls on the name of the Lord, he will be saved.
4. If anyone obeys the Gospel, he will have eternal life.
If these promises have a hidden clause of “provided that the person is on the secret list of the ‘Unconditional Elect’ and that the person then gets the secret injection of ‘Irresistible Grace’,” then these promises cannot be trusted by anyone who wants to be saved.
But, these promises of God can be trusted because they have no hidden clauses and the Bible says that if anyone trusts the Lord Jesus Christ, they will be saved and blessed.
Psalms 2:12 “Kiss the Son, lest he be angry, and ye perish from the way, when his wrath is kindled but a little. Blessed are all they that put their trust in him.”
We need to see the Lord Jesus Christ as God, a Savior who would never mislead or lie to anyone, and we need to see Him clearly offering salvation freely to everyone, and that eternal judgment is based on a person refusing that salvation. Therefore, because they would make God’s statements not trustworthy, we reject these false doctrines of: Total Depravity of Man, Unconditional Election, Limited Atonement, and Irresistible Grace.
WHAT ABOUT JUDAS?
Consider the decision that Judas made to betray the Lord. Let’s say that Fatalistic Calvinism is correct and that Judas was predestined and foreordained before the foundation of the world to make his decision to betray the Lord. Because of fatalism let’s say that Judas had no free will to make his decision, but that he was predestined to betray the Lord.
This makes no sense as we can see that the Lord Jesus Christ called Judas, his friend.
Matthew 26:49-50 “And forthwith he came to Jesus, and said, Hail, master; and kissed him. And Jesus said unto him, Friend, wherefore art thou come? Then came they, and laid hands on Jesus, and took him.”
But, the same night in which He called Judas his friend, the Lord said that because of the judgment of the eternal suffering that Judas would have in Hell, that it would have been better for Judas to not have been born.
Matthew 26:24 “The Son of man goeth as it is written of him: but woe unto that man by whom the Son of man is betrayed! it had been good for that man if he had not been born.”
Speaking of the Lord Jesus Christ the Bible explains in:
John 1:1…3 “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God…All things were made by Him; and without Him was not any thing made that was made.”
Question: Who controlled that Judas was born?
Answer: The Lord Jesus Christ
Question: Who made the ultimate decision to commit the crime that had such a horrible judgment that it would have been better for Judas (whom the Lord called his friend) not to have been born?
Fatalism Answer: The Lord made the ultimate decision for Judas to commit the crime that had such a horrible judgment that it would have been better for Judas not to have been born.
Free Will Answer: Judas made the ultimate decision to commit the crime and he bore all the responsibility for his decision because he did not have to make that decision. Therefore, Judas was ultimately responsible for what he received, and the horrible judgment that was so bad that it would have been better for Judas not to have been born.
If the fatalism answer is correct, then the Lord is to be blamed and defamed since He caused Judas to be born, called him his friend, and made the ultimate decision for his friend to commit the crime that caused him to receive the judgment of such eternal suffering that it would have better for him to not have been born.
How can Jesus be a friend to Judas if He caused Judas to be born and then forced Judas to do a crime with the penalty so bad that it would have been better for Judas to not have been born?
This fatalistic picture portrays God as a very bad person who causes his friends to be both born and make decisions that cause them to receive such horrible eternal judgments that make it better to not have been born.
What kind of a righteous God is that?
What kind of a friend is that?
God is not the person that is painted by Fatalistic Calvinism who defames His free will, saving Gospel message.
If Fatalistic Calvinism had this message why don’t they have a Calvinist Road or Fatalist Road tract? Could you honestly give the below fatalism Gospel tract invitation to a lost person?
I WAS A FATALISTIC CALVINIST
I am writing to you as one who used to believe in fatalism. I was a Fatalistic Calvinist. This changed for me when I stood before lost people and God broke my heart for them. I thought of the horribleness of the Hell that awaited them and I looked the lost in the eye and told them from the bottom of my heart that the Bible says “God loved the world” including them, and wanted everyone, including them to be saved, and that God wanted no one, including them, to perish.
From that point on I realized that I could no longer be a Fatalistic Calvinist.
If I believed what God said when He said that He wanted everyone to be saved and for no one to perish then I had to reject the positions explained in this Calvinist Road tract. I hope for the honor of His name and character, the integrity of His promises, for the sake of His calling, and for your love, admiration and trust of Him, that you will believe that God meant what He said, that man by his own independent decision, determines his eternal destiny and that God did not make this decision for man.
Fatalistic Calvinism is to regard every lost person as having an invisible mark on them that identifies them as either to be saved or to be lost and there is nothing that a lost person can do to change that. Fatalistic Calvinism is a serious issue because fatalism destroys evangelism, discourages the lost, distorts worship and defames God.
1. Fatalistic Calvinism destroys evangelism because with fatalism a believer cannot honestly say to a lost person that God loves him and that God has made salvation open to him.
2. Fatalistic Calvinism discourages the lost from turning to God because fatalism teaches the lost that the decision to turn to God is not their decision, but God’s decision.
3. Fatalistic Calvinism distorts worship because the beauty of worship is the “free will offering” of worship. If no one has a “free will” to turn to God then no one has a “free will” to worship God.
4. Fatalistic Calvinism defames God by making God a liar who has put the responsibility on man to believe when fatalism teaches that it is God and not man who is
responsible for man to believe.
The problem with Fatalistic Calvinism is that it:
1. Absolves the lost person of his responsibility to accept the Gospel invitation.
2. Absolves the believer of his responsibility to give the Gospel invitation.
3. It blames God for not giving to every person the ability to accept the Gospel invitation.
Fatalistic Calvinism attacks the greatest and first commandment to love the Lord our God with our heart and mind. This is because a person cannot love God with all his heart if with his mind he knew that God was the reason for his unbelieving mother, father, or other loved one to be suffering in Hell for all of eternity.
“Fatalistic Calvinism” is Satan’s ultimate opportunity to defame God by blaming Him for why people are in Hell.
Tom Cantor
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