A vandal is one who willfully or ignorantly destroys, damages,
or defaces property belonging to another or to the public.
The John 3:16 Conference was "evandalism" in that it defaces God's sovereignty and exalts man pride.or defaces property belonging to another or to the public.
Makes you wonder if they would dare sell Spurgeon books to those who attend. I have known full-blown Arminians who edit Spurgeon and believe that he was not a Calvinist! It didn't matter if he made a thousand statements to that effect or not!
I was disappointed to hear that Paige Patterson was a part of it. He was instrumental in getting me a full scholarship to the Criswell College. He and his wife, Dorothy, have been a great blessing to my family. In my book, More Awesome Truth, published by Barbour, I have two introductions. One written by John MacArthur and the other by Paige Patterson!
When I first became a Christian I fought Calvinism tooth and nail. I read all I could against it. The church I was attending was an independent Baptist that was a part of the "Sword of the Lord" crowd. But, it was there I was befriended by Dr. J. William F. Miles, who had taught Greek at Tennessee Temple and was a Calvinist (although at the time I had no idea - and would not have joined his classes if I had known). He started a School of Theology in his home and asked me to be a part of it.
After a few weeks of attending, and realizing that he believed in that dreaded doctine of election, I left a copy of "Predestined for Hell, NO!" by John R. Rice on his desk.
We had many a long night, after that, discussing the Doctrines of Grace. It wasn't until I was studying the High Priestly prayer of the Lord Jesus Christ in John 17 that God turned the light on about election. I still struggled with limited atonement for months.
Finally, I simply had to bow my proud heart (again) and God revealed His grace, mercy and love in a way that changed my entire life. The sovereignty of God has been the anchor, the sail, and the ship itself, that has kept me afloat and traveling through the sometimes stormy seas of the Christian life!
Ed,
ReplyDeleteI just love this site. This kind of humor is needed today. Keep up the great work.
Thanks. That means a lot to me! I can function for a month or two on a good compliment!
ReplyDeleteI also read John R. Rice's booklet, "Predestined to Hell? No!" and ended up writing all sorts of notes back to him. He obviously never read them, but it made me feel better to write them. His "book" is a classic straw man argument.
ReplyDeleteI agree buffaloman, Rice's arguments in that little book proved he never read Boettner's, Reformed Doctrine of Predestination at all!! Rice published a Spurgeon sermon each time the Sword of the Lord was printed...but, he edited out any Calvinism (and never even indicated that he had done so). Bob Ross, of Pilgrim Publishers, wrote Rice to find out why. Rice's response was that "Spurgeon would approve of his editing now that he is in Heaven and has had his theology corrected."
ReplyDeleteWhee, what a beautiful exlanation! But, really, is Rice still alive? I thought Edna Parker (who just died) was the oldest person on Earth.
ReplyDeleteJohn R. Rice has been in Heaven for some time now. It's a good thing he was "converted Rice" for now he knows God gave him the faith to believe in the first place. There are no "i's" in "election"...wait a minute...there is one...okay, there are no "i's" in "chosen"!
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