No need of Calvin, OSAS, Arminius, Spurgeon, Luther, and Boice

[rockytopva]

...but ye are washed, but ye are sanctified, but ye are justified in the name of the Lord Jesus, and by the Spirit of our God. - 1 Corinthians 6:4

There is no need of Calvin, Arminius, Spurgeon, Luther, and Boice... Or any other name when the Holy Spirit is with us! If we have the Holy Spirit deep down in the heart... What is the need of assurance? If the Spirit of God dwells deep within, helped along by faith in the Lord Jesus, there is simply no need of mans input to help things along.

Pictured below is farmer I would work for in the hay field... Dallas would shout at work, shout in the hay field, and shout in church. He would also speak in tongues and run the aisles. He and his wife would operate a dairy farm and he would also work at the local ammunition plant. A very large soul his shouting would ring through the building. In the altar services he would kneel behind me in prayer and tears would roll off his cheek and onto my shoulders. A wonderfully large soul. Along with Dallas there were many others like him who would let the praises roll during church service. During the altar service old Evans Linkous used to weep like a baby. And if he were to look back to catch the amazed look in my eye he would weep, "The Holy Ghost! The Holy Ghost!" And point to all the souls being blessed around the altar. After I experienced these things for myself the people would make a fuss, or in the words of the Apostle Paul, glorify God in me.

Dallas.... Jesus in the family! What a happy home!

You can hear Dallas shouting in the background. Dallas, Gertrude, and Pastor Vaught have all went to glory.

And the old Merrimac Pentecostal Holiness church. I have never heard such singing , preaching, and shouting anywhere else in my entire life!

And all of these folks knew nothing of Calvin, OSAS, Arminius, Spurgeon, Luther, and Boice.

 

[rockytopva]

I spent a full year of college at a specialized business school and taught at the Freewill Baptist church as well... In which they gave me a KJV Open Bible for my efforts, which I have kept to this good day. It was decades later, after researching church history, that I became aware of the Arminius / Calvin arguments, and that the reason they called themselves Freewill Baptist was because they were not Calvinist. I knew nothing of Calvin or Arminius while I was there. Wonderful hearted people though, and I cherish my memories of working with them.

 

[yeshuaslavejeff]

Should I wait till marriage?

Basically (obviously? but not to the majority of people) , trust Yahweh (God) by faith in Jesus.

Do not hope in men.

 

[Archivist]

There is no need of Calvin

But I always liked Calvin, his stuffed animal friend Hobbes and his neighbor Susie Derkins!

 

[rockytopva]

I had a book ministry at work in which some guy, after reading one of the testimonial books, wanted to get saved but not in my Pentecostal Holiness church. I had a friend I knew as Ray who was baptist, so I took him to a Baptist church. Well, they had a Franklin Graham testimonial film that Sunday night and my friend goes up to get saved... Only... There is no altar! Some guy gets my friend and takes him to a Sunday School room and begins to talk all that doctrine.... Now get the picture... Here is a guy ready to receive Christ with tears running down his cheek and he is getting doctrinalized! I was thinking to myself for the crying out loud say the sinners prayer! Let him acknowledge Christ so he can go through to salvation!

...The word is nigh thee, even in thy mouth, and in thy heart: that is, the word of faith, which we preach; That if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved. - Romans 10:8-9

But I fear, lest by any means, as the serpent beguiled Eve through his subtilty, so your minds should be corrupted from the simplicity that is in Christ. - 2 Corinthians 11:3

The most spiritual people I have met were able to simply acknowledge the Lord Jesus Christ, and then believe in their heart that God raised him from the dead. And then happily go from there. I find myself fearing, along with Paul, that too much doctrine can damage the simplicity of it all.

 

[yeshuaslavejeff]

footnote: Online the "sinner's prayer" teaching/ doctrine has been effectively challenged for years.

 

[rockytopva]

footnote: Online the "sinner's prayer" teaching/ doctrine has been effectively challenged for years.

Christians should not leave church in any kind of doubts over their salvation. If they do, someone has overly complicated the matter where they cannot grasp the simplicity of it all.

 

[yeshuaslavejeff]

Christians should not leave church in any kind of doubts over their salvation. If they do, someone has overly complicated the matter where they cannot grasp the simplicity of it all.

and chruches should not be places that destroy and try to prevent salvation....

 

[rockytopva]

What distinguished the Methodist of the 1800's and the Pentecostal Holiness of the 1900's was an experience called sanctification. You are saved by acknowledging and inviting Christ Jesus into the heart... But they would have you attend the many revivals and spend time around the altar in prayer before they would allow you to claim sanctification. When you came through to sanctification you would possess a sweet, Christ like spirit, such as we had in Charles Stanley. When you got sanctified they would tell you that the baptism was not that far away. There have been many Pentecostal Holiness who have went on to the Baptist church and I have heard the word, "Pente-Baptist" from more than one of them, indicating they were more Baptist than Pentecostal Holiness....

The place to pick up sanctification was also known as the mourners bench back in the 1800's. After hearing a message with conviction behind the pulpit the parishioners would gather around the altar for prayer...

Sanctification was also picked up with love, warmth, and a Walton like spirit. If you had not this spirit the old timers would tell you that you don't have it yet... Come back tomorrow night! And smile a little as they would say it. The old timers used to say that the first person to know you have been sanctified were the family pets. Instead of kicking them you would show them love and affection. An old story goes of a farmer seeking sanctification. He gets angry at his horse for not plowing straight wind-rows and begins to whip his horse. His wife then hollers out the screen door, "Not yet honey! Not yet!" Knowing that such a spirit could not have experienced sanctification.

 

[BobRyan]

...but ye are washed, but ye are sanctified, but ye are justified in the name of the Lord Jesus, and by the Spirit of our God. - 1 Corinthians 6:4

There is no need of Calvin, Arminius, Spurgeon, Luther, and Boice... Or any other name when the Holy Spirit is with us! If we have the Holy Spirit deep down in the heart... What is the need of assurance? .

The Holy Spirit "convicts the WORLD of sin and righteousness and judgment" John 16 ... such that "every mouth is closed and all the world guilty before God" Romans 3:19-21

Bottom line - the lost have condemnation not the "Assurance that they are right with God" not the "Assurance of salvation".

Evangelists would not have a single baptism if their message to the lost were "you are just fine as you are, no need for a change... nothing bad will happen to you"

The hint as to which is right Arminian or Calvinist view - what is the message you must give to the lost for them to have a chance to receive the Gospel? Is it "make no change you are fine just as you are" is it "there is nothing you can choose today to change anything about your future it is all locked in one way or the other?"

I tell you - none of those messages are being preached to the lost by effective evangelists.