| 2. Fundamentals vs. New Age -> Repentance vs New Age Repentance -> Historically Taught |
Historically Taught
Repentance Historically Accepted and Preached
At salvation, Arminians believe these three occur in a logical scriptural sequence of repentance (change of intention)>>believing (committing)>>faith (with regeneration, justification, and sanctification). Calvinists concur this is logically true but temporally they are simultaneous at the new birth.
The only real difference here is that the Arminians believe1 that God has made a man's understanding and circumstances enhance his willing (prevenient grace of Holy Sprit enlightening of every man), but that man is still free to submit to (synergism) or resist the Holy Spirit. Arminius clearly stated his belief in salvation by grace alone through faith alone, just as the Calvinists, but with a totally different means by both definition and methods by God. Both believed that faith is only present after regeneration. See footnote.4
[[[[ NOTE: In our times today, people who consider themselves Dispensational Doctoral Bible scholars, mistakenly teach that Arminianism (anything not being Calvinistic, to them) teaches that faith (the same as believing or trusting, in their blinded minds) exists in all unregenerate before regeneration. They have no understanding of Historic Arminianism or even much else.
They think the present day Dispensationalism "grace" regardless apostasy from out of Dallas Theological Seminary (Cemetery) since 1920 is Arminianism. It is definitely NOT. It is apostasy !! Zane Hodges, Robert Wilkins, Lewis Sperry Chafer, Charles Ryrie, John Walvoord, Charles Stanley, and the multitude of similar "grace" regardless teachers are modern day apostates, clearly and purely.
Dispensationalism denies that repentance and commitment to the Lordship of Christ and Holy Spirit led Living is our necessary response to the gospel. And they totally redefine what the gospel is, what faith is, and even what a Christian is. Our once Christian society is now destroyed as a result of their teachings during the past 90 years. But satanic blindness prevails today in most all so-called Christianity. See New Age Believing and The Morally Disabled and the rest of this website, contrasting Apostolic teachings to the "grace" regardless. ]]]]
Calvinists believe man's free will participates also but that God has made his understanding and circumstances enhance his willing (prevenient grace) in such a manner that he cannot resist the Holy Spirit (monogism), in essence he becomes a robot who thinks he determines his own behavior. On analysis, one can see that they are not really that far apart.
Actually, the Midievil Calvinist use the Biblical words in preaching, but have redefined their meaning. Whether it is all of God or with man's Free-will consenting or resisting is the difference. Modern Calvinists are starting to adopt the terminology of the modern apostate "grace" regardless cult, that have so egregiously changed even what a Christian is. See The Morally Disabled article.
The Synod of Dort in 1618 condemned all the Remonstants (Arminians) as heretics. At least 200 were deposed from ministry in the Holland church and state and about 80 were sent into exile or imprisoned. One was publicly beheaded.2 See Appendix D, Calvinist and Arminian Differences and Critique of Calvinism.
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But today, we have a new and strange salvation doctrine which totally contradicts both historic beliefs. This is not hair splitting! This doctrine is denying the Character of God and all the plain teachings of very plain scripture. Totally opposed to either of these basic historic beliefs from the time of Christ, the New Age Dispensational "grace" regardless people teach that man's faith (no more then trust in anything) from childhood is actually synonymous with any man's intellectual belief. That by simply exercising (affirming) that trust as a one-time event in a promise of eternal life, man is guaranteed Heaven, regardless of whatever he does or believes (trusts) in thereafter.
Dispensationalists say that repentance may or may not later occur; that only has to do with fellowship; he is saved eternally, regardless. They believe that man's faith precedes regeneration. They teach that as an infant, man enters the world with faith. He only needs to "exercise" it for salvation. No scripture even hints at this odd sequence of theirs, or their denial of repentance as necessary for salvation.
It is completely reversed to scripture, not to mention their peculiar definitions of faith, believing, repentance, assurance, salvation, and even sin and what a Christians is. All these assertions are derived from a man simply applying his assertions (dispensational) upon the scriptures, resulting in a pure humanistic interpretation of salvation throughout. The exposition of this last statement is the purpose of this website.
What is so distressing is to know that today all the highest levels of Fundamental teachers (highest and most respected doctors, whether Calvinist, Dispensationalist, or anything else) in the most prestigious Fundamental Bible schools in our country are indoctrinating all the young sincere minds of their students into these preposterous unscriptural beliefs. Then teaching them to interpret the scriptures to support them--deductive thinking. This is frightening. We now have total apostasy in our so-called Christianity.
Very probably more people are being sent to hell by Seminaries and Bible Schools today than probably all the world's harlots could ever begin to do. No wonder our Lord said concerning the leaders of religion, "Woe unto you when all men speak well of you." We little realize that there are two categories of all sin in the world of satan: doctrinal sin (apostasy) and moral sins. Our culture today only thinks about moral sins, and now even very little of that. When the world leader, the antichist, comes on the scene, will not all the world WORSHIP him in all their obvious religiousity they will be taught in their churches?
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A lost unregenerate man or women cannot be accepted of God until they truly (1) repent (understand their lost state in the Presence of their Almighty Holy Lord Creator in turning toward God for forgiveness and acceptability and Life), and then (2) believe HIM (committing into His Holiness and Righteousness and Mercy, His character), not simply "trusting" into some dead letter promise. Thereby, the free gift of faith, His Lord's Life indwelling, is freely given to the repenting and believing one. All of these details may not be explicitly consciously comprehended in the newborn's mind, but this is what implicitly happens. Otherwise, there is no new-birth.
The scriptures in their Greek and English form indicate these sequential conditions are what take place in the salvation of man. The Arminians say, yes, these are the conditions; but the Calvinists say these are the logical scriptural sequential inferences, but they all take place simultaneously at regeneration. Calvinists prefer to say these are not conditions, since they prefer to believe regeneration occurs only from the choosing of God without any agency of man involved.
But the issue is unchanged and agreed upon by both: repentance, believing, and faith are distinct definable necessities of salvation; and faith only comes with or follows regeneration. However, the Dispensational "grace" regardless people deny all of these issues, actually teaching that faith precedes regeneration, that unregenerate have faith; all they need to do is exercise it by saying "yes" to the free gift of eternal life.
Now God gave us these scriptures applicable to the sound logic of regenerated men to attest to the consistency and coherency of all scriptures, not only to strengthen the beliefs of those who would study them, but also to readily reveal false doctrines, to make them readily apparent to man. The "grace" regardless teachings deny all historic Christianity in their beliefs and interpretations of scripture. Both cannot be correct. You must choose. Our Lord does not accept compromise.
For the unregenerate, all of salvation could be implicit in just the heart cry, "Dear Lord Jesus, I am a sinner, please save me. I need Your mercy and Loving forgiveness, I want to be acceptable to You and please you the rest of my life and for eternity." Only God knows our hearts and our true intentions. Contrast that heart intent with this one. "Dear Lord Jesus, I am a sinner, please save me. I need Your mercy and Loving forgiveness, I have no intention of pleasing you. I just want to go to Heaven when I die. My pastor tells me that 'the Christian's liberty (is) to do precisely as we please,'3 so I thank you for this too." Isn't grace wonderful, they say.
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