I am sure you have all heard men stand in their pulpits and decry the evils of Calvinism. I am equally sure that you have also heard those same men from those same pulpits quote such great men of God as, Charles Spurgeon, Jonathan Edwards, John Gill, Matthew Henry, John Bunyan, and countless others. I could list many more, but I think the point is well made. What is even more amazing is that many of these preachers use commentaries written by some of these men who would be according to most Baptists today, “heretics”

While this post is not intended to argue for or against Calvinism, it is intended to expose the hypocrisy among many fundamental Baptists. I am personally not as concerned with how you define election as I am with how you answer the the question, “What must I do to be saved.” There are many who would condemn others for their views concerning sovereign grace, yet are consistently making men two fold children of Hell with their soft Soteriology and refusal to allow the Holy Spirit to actually draw the sinner and regenerate him. My point, however, is that it is extremely hypocritical to hail the men afore mentioned as great men of God ( which they were) and on the other hand dismiss every present day Calvinist as heretic.

The logical conclusion that one is left to come up with then is that it was alright to be a Calvinist then but certainly not today. To bolster my point let me ask one question. Would any of the men that quote Spurgeon or Edwards ( or any other Calvinist from the past) allow a present day Calvinist to speak in their Church? The answer is a resounding no, because as I said earlier there is blatant double standard. It is my prayer that these unfair attacks would cease so that we can all busy ourselves with the task at hand which is the call for sinners to repent and turn to Christ.

As I said earlier this post is not intended to argue for or against Calvinism,  my biggest concern is that we are  actively  trying to  reach sinners  for  the glory of God, and that we are not watering down the gospel.  All I am saying is that we should know who we are quoting before we blast modern Calvinists.  As long as a man is preaching the gospel and trying to reach sinners, lets not attack him because of how he interprets certain passages of Scripture.

I pray that no one takes this post the wrong way.  I would ask that before you judge me, take time to listen to my sermons so that you will know where I stand. I love the Lord, I love sinners, and I want to help God’s people.

Our Lord said in John4:24, God is a Spirit: and they that worship Him must worship Him in spirit and in truth. Webster defines worship as chiefly and eminently the act of paying divine honors to the supreme Being; or the reverence and homage paid to Him in religious exercises consisting in adoration, confession, prayer, thanksgiving and the like.

It is obvious that God is to be the focus of our worship. There are passages such as Genesis 17 and Exodus 34 that give us examples of true worship. These passages, among others show men prostrating themselves before almighty God with a deep sense of His greatness and His holiness. While worship is more often than visible and vocal, such as the song of Moses in Exodus 15 or the dance of David in 2 Samuel 6, the goal of worship is to reveal the supreme worth of our God and to express our adoration of Him. Our Saviour is to to be the focal point of our worship.

Our great God and Savior does not appear to be the focus of modern worship. Unfortunately, the songs of today are man-centered with a design to appeal the flesh. As young people bounce to the music, they are enjoying the music rather than reflecting on the magnificence of God. The modern song writer would not pen such words as ” a mighty fortress is our our God” or ” Praise to the Lord the almighty the King of creation. These new songs are a tell tale sign of a generation that has brought the Sovereign of all down to man’s level. Gone is the sense of awe and wonder of our great God and Savior, not to mention the fear.

Let us then be sure that our songs are geared to glorify God, let us be sure that our clothing at church is a true reflection of our attitude toward the Almighty, and above all may our sermons be ground in scripture with the intent to call sinners to flee from the wrath to come and the goal of building mature Christians conformed in the image of Christ.