Arminian To Calvinist, Calvinist To
Catholic, But
No Salvation
"They know not, neither will they
understand; they walk in darkness."
- -Psalm 82:5
Recently I
read an article by Mr. James Akin, a man who has changed religions again. He
first converted from Arminianism to Calvinism "because Calvinism
traditionally has been found among the more intellectual." The purpose of
his article was to help Catholics have a better understanding of Calvinism so
that they might "help more Calvinists make the jump" from Calvinism
to Catholicism. By a strange twist of logic,if not
sanity, he asserts "a Calvinist would not have to repudiate his
understanding of predestination and grace to become a Catholic." With such
brilliant intellectualism, it would not at all surprise me if Mr. Akin becomes
a Hindu next week and a Muslim the next. He may work his way all the way back
to a totem pole within a decade.
What Mr. Akin has done is simply swap
religions: freewill Arminianism for intellectual Calvinism, then intellectual
Calvinism for ritualistic Romanism. Such conversions are well described by him
as a "jump" from one religion to another. Like children playing with
toys that never satisfy for long, grown men and women who walk in darkness and
have no understanding in the things of God dabble in one religion and then
another, never finding satisfaction in any.
Understand this - Christianity is not a
system of religion! Calvinism is no better than Arminianism or Catholicism if
your Calvinism is void of Christ. I am not interested in converting men to
Calvinism. I want to see sinners saved by the grace of God, converted by the
power of God to Jesus Christ the Lord. Do not misunderstand me. I have no
tolerance for the freewill, works religion of the Arminian or the papist. I
fully recognize that there is no understanding of the gospel apart from those
glorious truths commonly referred to as The Five Points of Calvinism - Total
Depravity, Unconditional Election, Limited Atonement, Irresistible Grace, and
Perseverance of the Saints. But salvation is not a system of doctrine.
Salvation is a Person. If a sinner is ever taken up in the arms of Christ, he
will never "make the jump" into the abyss of papacy!
Don Fortner