A Christian Source with Politically Incorrect News
On Salvation and Church History
Dear Joseph,
I have received your letter of December 2, 1999, and the three packets of documentation between you and various ministries, which I have read. Since you have felt led to include me in the body of people to be judged in your so-called heresy trial, I shall give an account of the hope that is in me regarding the Gospel of Jesus Christ. I do so with the hope that it may be used by God for His glory. May this response provoke you and others to consider the things of God discussed in this letter — but it is also written with the knowledge that the Holy Spirit will only open the eyes of those God has chosen. God shall judge all things, and I welcome the opportunity for others to read this material and see who is bearing witness to the truth according to God's word and who is speaking lies.
You say you will send copies of this reply to all the people on your distribution list, and that you will make an honest reply — I shall look forward to hearing from you. You will need to have a Bible present when you read this, because it would be too long to quote all the passages cited. I hope you and others will follow the pattern of the Bereans and see if what I have preached be true or not by the Scriptures. I ask patience of all that read this letter.
The theme of this letter is that there is one salvation, and it is the gift of God, given to whom He wills and when He wills. All salvation is the same as Peter's — which, if you read Matthew 16:15–17, you will see came not by the will or knowledge of Peter but by revelation from God (v.17). To where God imputes the righteousness of Christ, there is no condemnation for sins, for Christ has made His people clean by His one perfect sacrifice, which was acceptable to the Father for the remission of sins. "And thou shalt call his name Jesus, for he shall save his people from their sins" (Matthew 1:21). He did not suffer for those that are not His people — to teach otherwise is to make the blood of the Lamb of God insufficient to save someone. For whom it was shed, it will be applied.
Your comment regarding "Protestants" calling so-called early church fathers "Christians" is a great evil. Sadly this practice is common in theology books and has been taught in seminary schools for hundreds of years, including the Baptist. Augustine, Jerome, Erasmus — they were all lost men looking for salvation through sacraments. Augustine, in spite of professing a love for God and sound doctrines in some things, believed in forced conversions or death. He in earlier years professed the doctrines of grace (which people point to and praise), but later wrote of grace through sacraments. Many have only concentrated on things he wrote that appeared to be good and have not been taught of his rejection of the Gospel as found in Christ.
So, the point you made regarding it being wrong to call Roman Catholics Christians — we are in 100% agreement. However, you are at odds with the "Sword of the Lord" folks, including Curtis Hudson and John R. Rice, which I shall document for you later in this letter.
To your demise, I shall show you that if you had looked deeper into history, you would have also discovered that the very essence of the Gospel which you attack and call "Calvinism" is found in Baptist history. This doctrine alone has provoked you to write and accuse many groups of being heretics and enemies of the Gospel. I shall in due course address subjects you raised regarding the doctrine of election, Spurgeon, Calvin, Southern Baptist history, the Anglican Church, the 1611 KJV, and other issues you write about repeatedly.
While I hold the doctrines of grace — and some of them can be summed up in the acrostic known as the TULIP — these doctrines did not originate with Calvin but with God, and they are taught in both the Old and New Testaments. Martin Luther held "baptismal regeneration" until his death and it is still taught by Lutherans today. Luther, Calvin, and many other reformers came from Romanism and they were State-Churchmen with a persecuting spirit. The Protestant Kings used Calvin and Luther's teaching to help break away from the power of the Pope — and those same Kings also killed, tortured, and imprisoned the Ana-Baptists.
I refer you to some good books on this subject: The Reformers and Their Stepchildren and The Anatomy of a Hybrid, both by Leonard Verduin. He did excellent research but even though he is a Calvinist, he is in great error as he accepts all the leaders of the Reformation as Christians. His research is of great value, though his conclusions and opinions are not.
Written to the glory of God alone,
D.B.
Contending for the Faith Ministries