Today's Predestination Paranoia is Unwarranted   JC Ryle

First of all let me entreat every reader of this paper not to refuse this doctrine of Election, merely because it is high, mysterious, and hard to be understood. Is it reverent to do so? Is it treating God's Word with the respect due to revelation? Is it right to reject anything written for our learning, and to give it hard names, merely because some misguided men have misused it, and turned it to a bad purpose? These are serious questions. They deserve serious consideration. If men begin rejecting it, they are on slippery ground. There is no saying how far they may fall. ... [Read More!]

Manipulated 'Decisions' Lead To Gospel-Hardening   Joel Beeke

The Puritans showed a profound dependence upon the Holy Spirit in everything they said and did. They felt keenly their inability to bring anyone to Christ as well as the magnitude of conversion. "God never laid it upon thee to convert those he sends thee to. No; to publish the gospel is thy duty," William Gurnall said to ministers. ... [Read More!]

The Benefits of Not Ignoring Election in Your Bible   James Boice

So many people think that election is useless and perhaps even pernicious. It is nothing of the sort. It is part of the Bible's inspired teaching and is therefore "useful," as Paul insisted all Scripture is (2 Tim. 3:16-17). Here's a look at ways election impacts things like evangelism and worship: ... [Read More!]

"The Number of Easter Salvations Was Exactly..."

If you've been around Old Truth long enough, you know that unsubstantiated convert counting is something that I'm passionate about, in a negative sense. First of all, only God knows the real numbers and we could be way off when we count microwavable 'decisions'. Usually the same people who are so geared-up to rebuke anyone for saying that some deviant bible teacher is NOT saved, all too often make the same category mistake by assuming someone IS saved when they really have no idea whether they are or not. Secondly, it too often leads to boasting and assuming that our own methodologies are the reason for people being born again, rather than it being 100% the work of the Holy Spirit. Those are just a couple of reasons why this "counting of unhatched chickens" is wrong. Let's take a look at a few examples of it in action, from yesterday's Easter services. ... [Read More!]

"39 People Decided To Be Christians"?    Link

Well,I thought we were making some progress with Michael from Oak Leaf, but sometimes progress is slow. You'll remember a couple of weeks ago when he asked Old Truth readers to comment on his blog post about the early church being "seeker sensitive" (he concluded that they were, and that his church is too). Tonight on his blog, I see that he is still very much operating under the error that man can save himself by making a 'decision'. See this older post for a better explanation of what the problem is with that thinking. Michael's remarks in his latest post are brief and yet one of the most revealing examples of this errant theology. He writes this about Sunday's church service "39 people decided to follow Jesus! 39 people who are now Christians!". Aside from the fact that salvation is not due to human will and decision (Romans 9:16, John 1:12-13, etc), Michael's remarks beg the question - how does he know they are now Christians? We all know how angry people get if someone questions the salvation of another professed believer. Questions start flying like "how do you know that person is not saved?". Just turn that question around 180 degrees and ask pastors like Michael "how do you know 39 ARE saved?" after only a few minutes of observation? When I see posts like this, I can't help but wonder if these pastors are simply engaging in self-promotion, ie: "look at what we've done HERE at OUR church?". Praise God for any true converts that may be in the bunch of 39, but much gives us reason to question the stats and 'fruit' of churches that operate like this.

... [Read Link]

Getting 'Right' With God at The Altar

I remember being so impressed as a young convert over 20 years ago, watching Jimmy Swaggart on TV talk about the design of his megachurch, and how it was optimized for maximum numbers of people around the altar. His services on TV would often end with a call for believers to come forward and "take care of business" and get right with God. In the church that I used to attend, before it went seeker sensitive, there were always a whole bunch of tissue boxes lined up at the altar in anticipation of sobbing people. I've heard of extreme accounts of people wanting salvation on a given Thursday, and being encouraged by church leaders to wait for the Sunday altar call to make it happen; that's practically a form of "salvation via the church". These are some troubling examples of the inroads that the modern "altar" has made in post-Finney American evangelicalism, and here to get the discussion started on this topic is Chad VanRens: ... [Read More!]

'Man Saves Man' and Decisions Are The Plan

Where did we ever get the idea that people can save other people, and even save themselves? Sure, nobody comes right out and says that, but you can tell that they think it. It's amazing how this one theological error upstream ends up causing an entire evangelism epidemic downstream. No, theology is not useless "head knowledge", it impacts our actions. And in this case, bad theology has produced an entire errant evangelistic system. ... [Read More!]

Shallow Conversionism & Church Growth Idolatry   James White

Anyone who has endured the end-of-the-year push to meet a goal of baptisms for a year knows well what takes place. Entire sermons on baptism, all aimed at getting as many bodies through the baptistery as possible, along with "bring a friend" drives, all end up producing what can only be called Christian mutations: baptism without conversion, religiosity without repentance, non-discipled disciples, moistened but now guilty of religious hypocrisy as well. The numbers may look good, but what do they represent? ... [Read More!]

There's More To Christian Music Than The STYLE

There are those who would flee the excesses of the contemporary Christian music scene thinking it safer to take refuge in a church that sings hymns instead. But not all conservative music is the same; some of it is downright horrible, containing erroneous theology. Some hymns (especially some of the newer ones from the last century) have their own set of problems, and it has to do with the lyrics themselves. ... [Read More!]

Can People Promise What The Holy Spirit Will Do?

Some never bother to ask that question in today's evangelism; they just go ahead and do it. They make promises that is; and they pledge what a sovereign God will or will not do. Here's another example of that in action; it is one of the many ministry-spam emails sent to me in recent weeks. This time around, the advertising promises a certain number of souls will be saved, if certain donations are made. ... [Read More!]

Salvation Charms: Dont Leave Home Without Them

One can only wonder how many people are carrying around these assurance trinkets nowadays. It seems so medieval and primitive, but apparently there is no shortage of folks who will put some amount of eternal trust in "a thing" that they can carry on their person. Here's an interesting side-by-side look at the eerie similarities between the Catholic and Protestant versions of good luck charms for the soul. ... [Read More!]

Appeals, Altar Calls, & Spurious Self-Conversions   Martyn Lloyd-Jones

I remember being in an evangelistic meeting in which I, and others, felt that on that occasion the Gospel had not really been preached. It had been mentioned, but it certainly had not been conveyed, it had not been preached. And yet to my amazement a large number of people went forward in response to the appeal at the end. The question that arose immediately was, what accounted for this? I was discussing this question the following day with a friend. He said, "There is no difficulty about that, these results have nothing to do with the preaching". So I asked, "Well, what is it, what was happening?"... [Read More!]

Count On Churches To Conduct Christmas Convert Counting   

Bundling the Gospel in Broadway type stage entertainment has become the megachurch norm at Christmas time. The Thomas Road church has their's shrink-wrapped and for sale on DVD already. If this year's holiday season is anything like last year, we can expect to see the CGM blogs light-up with trophy-like claims of salvation stats. Should these churches be so quick to count converts, and boast about the numbers of people who were "most certainly saved" at their Christmas productions? Here's a look back on a post from last year at this time; it explores the claims, concept, and counting of "decisions for Christ" - today's measure of ministry success. ... [Read More!]

Are Your Thoughts of God Too Human?   AW Pink

In one of his letters to Erasmus, Luther said, "Your thoughts of God are too human". Probably that renowned scholar resented such a rebuke, the more so, since it proceeded from a miner's son. Nevertheless, it was thoroughly deserved. We, too, prefer the same charge against the vast majority of the preachers of our day, and against those who, instead of searching the Scriptures for themselves, lazily accept their teachings. The most dishonoring conceptions of the rule and reign of the Almighty are now held almost everywhere. To countless thousands, even professing Christians, the God of Scripture is quite unknown. ... [Read More!]