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Hyper-Calvinists: A Caricature
Wade Burleson wrote an article entitled, “The Problem of Calling People Hyper-Calvinists”.[1] Having attended the John 3:16 Conference in 2008, he described how Dr. David Allen, Professor of Preaching at Southwestern Theological Seminary, circulated a handout that listed a dozen names identified as “Hyper-Calvinists”. Following Dr. Allen in the pulpit, was Dr. Steve Lempke of New Orleans, who made the observation, “I am not sure that there is such a thing as a living hyper-calvinist. I find that those who call others hyper-calvinists have simply run into people more calvinistic than they are.” Yet, there is a listing for “Hyper-Calvinism” in the New Dictionary of Theology.[2] The definition is framed by Dr. Curt Daniel, who earned a doctorate studying “hyper” Calvinism: “It is that school…
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A Classic Misrepresentation of High-Calvinism
Here is a classic misrepresentation of High-Calvinism, and the misleading assertion that Fuller was the hero who rescued the Particular Baptists from ‘Hyperism’: “Fuller’s pastorate at Soham, which lasted until 1782 when he moved to pastor the Baptist church in Kettering, Northamptonshire, was a decisive period for the shaping of his theological outlook. It was during his time there that he decisively rejected High Calvinism (i.e., an emphasis on the sovereignty of God in salvation to an extent which denied the free offer of the gospel and seriously hampered effective evangelism. Fuller said that his predecessor ‘had little or nothing to say to the unconverted.’).”[1] First, denying the free-offer is not an extreme emphasis on the sovereignty of God in salvation, it is a consistent…
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High-Calvinism and Preaching the Gospel
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Duty-Faith and the Free-Offer
Duty-Faith and the Free-Offer are two of the most pernicious heresies infiltrating churches today. Preachers that demand sinners exercise faith, as the initiating cause of the new birth, are appealing to the flesh, wherein dwelleth no good thing. Subsequently, false converts are mass produced through manipulative devices in getting people to 'make a decision for Christ'. The scriptural concept of faith is this—the sinner believes because he has been born again; he is not born again because he believes. Hence, faith is a gift to the saint, not a duty of the sinner. In addition, preachers that 'offer' the gospel (as if it lies in the sinner to accept or reject it) contradict the central message of sovereign grace. The sinful heart must be made…
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22 At That Time Ye Were Without Christ
Preached November, 17th, 1842. “That at that time ye were without Christ, being aliens from the commonwealth of Israel, and strangers from the covenants of promise, having no hope, and without God in the world.”—Ephesians 2:12 A very trifling alteration of the words of our text would make it applicable, I greatly fear, to many before me to-night. If we were to read, “At this time ye are without Christ, being aliens from the commonwealth of Israel, and strangers from the covenants of promise, having no hope, and without God in the world.” What an awful state you are in, if such be your case! And of others we may adopt the language of God's Word in another place, and say, “And such were some…
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54 Christ’s Invitation To His Spouse
“Come with me from Lebanon, my spouse, with me from Lebanon; look from the top of Amana, from the top of Shenir and Hermon, from the lions' dens, and the mountains of the leopards.”—Song Of Solomon 4:8 It is not my design to give a minute statement of the meaning of this portion of the Word of God, but only to drop a few hints that may be useful to some of God's dear tried family, if the Good Spirit of life and grace is pleased to make them so. If by Lebanon we understand the pleasures of the world, so odoriferous to the fleshly mind; and if by Amana, Shenir, and Hermon, the lions' dens, and mountains of leopards, we understand the horrible haunts…
