Martin Luther at The Diet of Worms

This is probably the most inspiring movie in my collection. Would to God we had a few more Luther's in our day! If you don't own this movie, buy it ASAP!

Contend for the Faith

It is a pleasure to have Gordon Runyan as a Mafia Member! I look forward to working with him here in the Mafia as we continue this ministry. With that being said, I invite you to read these verses and my post:

Beloved, although I was very eager to write to you about our common salvation, I found it necessary to write appealing to you to contend for the faith that was once for all delivered to the saints. For certain people have crept in unnoticed who long ago were designated for this condemnation, ungodly people, who pervert the grace of our God into sensuality and deny our only Master and Lord, Jesus Christ. ~Jude 3-4

Jude in these verses writes to the believers to contend for the faith because false teachers have crept into the church teaching heresy. It is interesting to note that it says they "were designated for this condemnation" and all that entails, but we will not address that in this post. I will let that soak in the readers mind. We are not to shut up when false doctrines are being taught in the church, we are to speak up. Recently, I have done what I believe is right and have spoken up and out against certain pentacostals on our campus. They have told me that they don't need to study original languages or anything like that because, "the Holy Spirit interprets the Bible for them." I made a bold statement that by saying that, you take a position that is somewhat cultic. I do not believe what I said was incorrect. So what happens when people contend for the faith? Well, in history they get killed. But for me, I was seriously misrepresented. I have been represented as claiming Pentacostalism IS a cult (which I didn't say), that I believe all pentacostals share the same view, and that all of them are going to hell. I was seriously misrepresented by students on campus.

I write this to say when you contend for the faith, people will be upset. When you fight for truth, people will be offended. When you speak out against false doctrines, the relativistic minded Christians who think we should all sit around a campfire singing Kum Ba Yah, will get radically upset. When the persecution comes, keep preaching! When the trials come, keep standing for truth! When the attacks come keep advancing the gospel! Be Blessed!

Maligning the Theologian

"I am also duly clear in my own conscience, and have God and the angels as my witness, that since I undertook the office of a teacher in the church, I have had no other purpose than to benefit the church by maintaining the pure doctrine of godliness. Yet I think that there is no one who is assailed, bitten, and wounded by more false accusations than I." - John Calvin

John Calvin is a controversial figure to say the least. It is common to hear opponents of Calvinism take the route of attacking John Calvin's character in order to discredit the Doctrines of Grace. The myths that are often perpetuated seem to sway many into thinking that Calvin was some sort of monster who "ruled Geneva with an iron fist." One will quite often hear the execution of the arch-heretic Michael Servetus being brought up as a proof that Calvin was an evil monster.

When people bring up the "murder" of Michael Servetus in order to slander Calvin (and Calvinism), I have to shake my head and roll my eyes... They make the story sound as if Calvin walked up and torched the man personally -with malice in his heart. Such is far from the truth. If these people would take the time to read some objective history of the event, they might understand that Servetus was not murdered at all! He was executed by the civil magistrate for the crime of heresy.

Calvin's involvement in the affair was not much different than if a Christian helped catch and testify against a serial killer today. Ultimately the state -and not the Christian involved in the trial- is the authority putting the criminal to death. Back in Calvin's era, heresy was a capital crime. I realize that doesn't sit well with the pluralistic minds of our modern age, but that was the reality of their day. It also bears mentioning that Calvin himself might have been tried, convicted, and burned at the stake had the Catholics ever gotten their hands on him! Before his arrest in Geneva, Servetus had already been arrested, tried, and convicted by the Catholics, but he managed to escaped before the Papists could execute him.

After his conviction in Geneva, Servetus requested a meeting with Calvin prior to his execution. Servetus is reported to have apologized to Calvin for any personal harm he may have caused, but sadly, Servetus maintained his heretical opinions and would not be persuaded by Calvin. Calvin requested his sentence be reduced to beheading, but the request was denied by the authorities. One author adds that Calvin refused to take part in the execution! In light of all these things, I must say that if John Calvin really murdered Michael Servetus, he sure picked an interesting way of doing it!

I think the reason we see so many slanderous attacks on John Calvin is because people believe that if they can discredit Calvin, then they might be able to overthrow "Calvinism." Well, that simply won't work. Someone once said that if Calvin thought he was inventing some new teaching, he would have never written it down in the first place. Many of the things Calvin wrote about concerning the sovereignty of God in salvation can also be found in the writings of Luther, Augustine, and others. I am certain that even if John Calvin would have never been born, the "Doctrines of Grace" would still be taught today!

If I were a betting man, I would wager that many of the talking heads who love to malign Calvin probably have never read any of his works. What they have read was probably in a book written by another person who also hated Calvin and his teachings. I believe it would do these people some good to get some of Calvin's works and see for themselves what he actually taught.

Most detractors probably believe the only thing Calvin taught about was Predestination, but that isn't true. I happen to have a copy of Calvin's Institutes. I have not read it all from cover to cover, but if anyone just opens it up and scans the table to contents, they will see that Calvin devotes much more space to the errors of the Papacy than to the doctrines of Election and Predestination. Glenn S. Sunshine, in his book The Reformation for Armchair Theologians has written:

"Calvin... thought that the Scripture taught double predestination. At the same time, he did not think it was an issue most people needed to deal with. Calvin was more interested in preaching the fundamentals of the faith and applying Scripture to life than in teaching predestination, particularly because the discussion would likely distract from more important issues. So Calvin taught predestination in his theological works and commentaries, but not from the pulpit."

Ultimately, I think people's problem isn't really with John Calvin or "Calvinism." Their problem is with the Bible! The eternal Word of God is the ultimate source of the doctrines we now call Calvinism. No writer more plainly declares the sovereign grace of Almighty God over the destinies of men than does the inspired Apostle Paul in Romans 8 and 9!

Malign Calvin as much as you will, but you cannot overthrow the Word of God; which plainly teaches us that "[God] has mercy on whom He wills, and whom He wills He hardens (Romans8:18 ESV).

Soli Deo Gloria!

Please see the article "Calvin's Christ" by Mafia member Fred Pifer.

Confidence in God

Over the past few weeks I have been in an ongoing debate with a friend of mine who is heavily indoctrinated by the Church of God of Prophesy, the denomination that my friend Rhett has come from. My friend Luther (surprisingly named after Martin Luther) is an avid supporter of conditional security. I keep showing him passages about the promises of God, and he always responds with, "It's all about free will!" I am not lying. He says this so seriously. His emphasis on free will necessitates his belief in conditional security. If my confidence lies in my own will, then I would affirm conditional security as well. But praise God! My Confidence is in God alone! Read the following verse:

Now may the God of peace Himself sanctify you completely, and may your whole spirit and soul and body be kept blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. He who calls you is faithful and He will surely do it. ~1 Thessalonians 5:23-24

These verses proclaim that even our sanctification and holiness is dependent upon the faithfulness and the promise of God! Yes, it is our responsibility to pursue holiness, but our responsibility lies in the power of Almighty God! He will surely do it! My confidence is in God!

Quotable Quote

"If you want a Reformation preach it! Don't hide it! Make it clear! And let God work!"

-Dr. R.C. Sproul

Isn't this Ironic?

In America the best selling Christian books seem to be full of fluff and self-help psycho babble. Almost without exception, whenever I hear Christians raving about some new book, it always ends up being full of aberant teachings or it's something written by Joel Osteen, Rick Warren, or the like...

Compare what we see going on in American Christian publishing to the fact that in China, a University in Peking is actually publishing Christian literature "as long as it reaches a certain level of intellectual and academic respectability."

They are publishing books by Ravi Zacharias and R.C. Sproul!

What? No books by Joel Osteen?!! No Purpose Driven Church in Chinese? Ahh! Those terrible Commies! It's almost as if they want their people to THINK or something!

Seriously though... Let's continue to pray and thank God for what He's doing in China! I believe this is going to result in something great!

Soli Deo Gloria!

Here's the press release from Ligonier Ministries.

Update

The members of the Mafia have been extremely busy lately therefore our blogging has been at a minimum... Lord willing, we will be back soon.

Soli Deo Gloria!

Rhett