Re: Shawn McCraney ("Heart of the Matter"), Shown #199, January 19, 2010 on "Apostasy".
Show #199, 2010 - http://hotm.tv/shows/20100119.htm

Shawn,

I thought you said you weren't a Calvinist when we talked before? Jacob Arminius by the Holy Spirit directly countered the 5 false teachings of John Calvin. The 5 points of OSAS Arminian counter the 5 points of Calvinism, yet you are hostile to Arminianism? The Bible says be "not doubletongued" (1 Tim. 3.8).

Shawn, you quoted Acts 20.29-31: "For I know this, that after my departing shall GRIEVOUS WOLVES enter in among you, not sparing the flock. Also of your own selves shall men arise, SPEAKING PERVERSE THINGS, to draw away disciples after them. Therefore watch, and remember, that by the space of three years I ceased not to WARN EVERYONE night and day with tears" (Acts 20.29-31).

Then you said regarding this passage, "Again, the context is what? Were there false prophets that came into the early church? Absolutely. It came with Arminianism. It came with Gnosticism. It came with all sorts of heresies. The Gates of Hell have tried to kill Christianity...."

Shawn, you're attacking God's way of saving people which is to predestinate by foreknowing (Rom. 8.29) our free-choice: a conditional election, unlimited atonement, resistible grace, for preservation of the saints (OSAS).

The 5 false teachings of Calvinism TULIP are: Total depravity, unconditional election, limited atonement, irresistible grace, and perseverance of the saints. Remember when tulips were worth $25,000 each? That's a bubble.

"For therefore we both labour and suffer reproach, because we trust in the living God, who is the Saviour of all men, specially of those that believe" (1 Tim. 4.10). "Who will have all men to be saved, and to come unto the knowledge of the truth" (1 Tim. 2.4). "And he is the propitiation for our sins: and not for ours only, but also for [the sins of] the whole world" (1 John 2.2). "The Lord is not slack [sufficient grace] concerning his promise, as some men count slackness; but is longsuffering to us-ward, not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance" (2 Pet. 3.9). "And I give unto them eternal life; and they shall never perish, neither shall any [man] pluck them out of my hand" (John 10.28).

Arminianism teaches that Jesus died on the cross for the sins of the whole world. His grace is sufficient to save any and all, whosoever is willing. To be saved you must be willing to repent and believe in Christ to be regenerated. Come to the cross as a helpless sinner to receive the Lord Jesus as Savior!

"Jesus came into Galilee, preaching the gospel of God, and saying, 'The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand; repent, and believe in the gospel'" (Mark 1.15) "Repent ye therefore, and be converted, that your sins may be blotted out" (Acts 3.19).

I can't count the number times Shawn, you said on your program to be born-again you don't have to repent and believe in Christ to be regenerated, that effectively you were irresistibly selected. Don't you see this is a selfish salvation? What you have done is taken the complete opposite view of Mormonism (oddly throwing in non-OSAS sometimes taught to you as a Mormon) but you are not less unsaved than they are. In fact, according to 2 Pet. 2.21 it would have been better you had never come so Christ to begin with because you are worse off now than you were before (perhaps your permanent stay in Hell will be worse than it would have been otherwise). I think the reason you teach non-OSAS sometimes is because it is a slip of the tongue of being taught non-OSAS for 40 years. Either way, by doing so (see below), you'are in a state of confusion. Who is the author of confusion?

Shawn, for 40 years you were a Mormon. Don't spend another 40 years as a Calvinist. Calvinists take on an idol they call Total depravity which says they can't repent and believe in Christ to be regenerated, so they won't and they don't. They are the tares trying to look like saved wheat in the outward appearance of the kingdom of heaven. And so they assume they were regenerated irresistibly without having had to come to Christ genuinely and authentically, repentantly and believing on Jesus to be saved by grace through faith. It's a selfish salvation. It's in their head, not their spirit's innerman. And they think their god sends people to Hell from birth with no grace to give them the opportunity to be saved. What love is this?

My prayers go out to you. Aren't you being a grievous wolf speaking perverse things? A little later in this program you said, "This verse speaks about some falling away. Not all, but some" referring to 1 Tim. 4.1-2: "Now the Spirit speaketh expressly, that in the latter times some shall depart from the faith, giving heed to seducing spirits, and doctrines of devils; Speaking lies in hypocrisy; having their conscience seared with a hot iron."

This can include both those who come close to the doorstep of salvation, yet turn away like those in 2 Peter. 2.21 or those who are saved, but deceived, though can't lose eternal life, for the Bible is clear: "hath everlasting life, and shall not come into condemnation; but is passed from death unto life" (John 5.24). When does a person receive eternal life? When they are born-again (initial salvation), "And this is life eternal, that they might know thee the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom thou hast sent" (John 17.3).

It seems to me you have contradictory theology like you are trying to mingle non-OSAS and Calvinism. The 5th point of Calvinism is false, for to be OSAS is to give your life to God who keeps knowing you can't keep yourself saved, whereas Calvinists think they are irresistibly regenerated into OSAS. Do you see the difference?