October 19, 2006 (David Cloud, Fundamental Baptist Information Service, P.O. Box 610368, Port Huron, MI 48061, 866-295-4143, fbns@wayoflife.org; for instructions about subscribing and unsubscribing or changing addresses, see the information paragraph at the end of the article) -

The following is by our friend Hughie Seaborn of Cairns, Queensland, Australia <rseaborn@ozemail.com.au>

In September 2000, having left the Pentecostal movement a couple of years earlier, my wife and I began attending the one and only Independent Baptist church in our city. Prior to this we had visited a number of churches in the district and had come to the conclusion that all were either tainted with Pentecostal/Charismatic teachings and the current unbiblical manifestations, they were ecumenical, or they were seriously compromised in some other way.

With the outbreak of the Toronto Blessing in the early 1990s and the flooding into the Pentecostal churches of outlandish and ungodly behaviour and beliefs, we were caused to flee to the scriptures and spend many hours in study and prayer, seeking the Lord’s mind as to what was happening. During that time the Lord lead us more and more into an Evangelical understanding of the Scriptures and we eventually came to see that the Toronto Blessing was nothing more than ripening fruit on a tree that had its roots firmly planted in the fertile soil of Pentecostal error, so it was with great joy and high hopes that we discovered what appeared to be the only remaining place of refuge in an area of severe spiritual drought.

The pastor and his wife were both graduates of Bob Jones University in the US, and by all accounts, seemed to be in touch with current trends that were affecting the churches in our area. They assured us that they were separate from those churches and were opposed to the teachings of the Pentecostal and Charismatic movements. They were also opposed to CCM and the singing of repetitive choruses in the meetings, which was another thing we were experiencing increasing problems with in the Pentecostal church.

The church had about 120 in regular attendance and was flourishing financially. The pastor also conducted a small, but growing Bible College which my wife and I eventually attended. We thoroughly enjoyed attending the church and looked forward to the meetings and Bible College each week and soon became involved in the ministry and developed a good relationship with the pastor and the people.

Previous to our involvement with this church our knowledge of Bob Jones University in the US was practically nil, but we soon found that there was a strong continuing attachment between our pastor and BJU. As well, we soon discovered that there were a number of other pastors in the area who had graduated from BJU and who also maintained similar strong ties with the university. Each year during the four and a half years that we attended the church, a team of around 14 to 16 BJU students and young graduates arrived from the US on an annual ministry training tour.

In July, 2003, one of these BJU graduates migrated to Australia and took up the position of assistant pastor at our church. Although only 26 years of age, his main role, we were informed, was to get the Bible College up and running in a much more organised and serious manner. Our pastor had great visions for this ministry in the church and the new pastor’s responsibility would involve setting the curriculum and getting all the necessary teaching materials from BJU in the US. As assistant pastor, this new arrival took on quite a lot of the preaching responsibility as well, usually preaching in at least one of the services on Sunday and sometimes in the mid-week prayer meeting. In my opinion, most of his preaching was very good. However, one Sunday he preached on the subject of “Grace” and after the service I commented to him that I was glad he didn’t say that grace was irresistible, to which he replied, “But that’s what I believe it is!”

My research into Calvinism came about when a former friend from the church became convinced of this belief system after reading volumes of Puritan literature and the writings of Calvinists such as Arthur Pink. He was soon vigorously endorsing five point Calvinism and became very dogmatic that everyone else should do likewise. He was eager for me and my wife to read some of the books he was continually purchasing. Quite a lot of his material came from the local Presbyterian church. I did read a number of these books, but I didn’t come to the same conclusions as he did about Calvinism. Unfortunately, our friendship declined seriously after he publicly abused me for refusing to accept his belief system.  He had done this on two other occasions, but not so publicly, so we avoided him for the sake of peace. Not long after he left the church following a similar dispute with the pastor.

It was mainly through this former friend’s persistence that we should believe Calvinism and Reformed teachings that my wife and I were challenged to study the subject with perhaps a little more energy than we might otherwise have done. We prayed, searched the Scriptures and read quite a lot of literature from both sides of the argument and came to the definite conclusion that the teachings of the Calvinists were mostly unbiblical, and in some cases, heresy. Perhaps we can be thankful to or former friend, because without our study into the subject we would not have been so adequately equipped to discern what was soon to become the accepted doctrinal position for our church.

During the first two years or so of our time in this IB church, we were not aware that any Calvinism was being preached. However, in December 2004, within 18 months of the arrival of our new assistant pastor, he started a series of Sunday night messages based upon the book “Complete in Him” by Michael Barrett. In the very first message he announced that he believed that regeneration precedes conversion and that he would be explaining why he believed so in a following message. I was quite surprised at his announcement because I knew through my former studies on the subject that this particular belief was one of the major tenets promoted by the five point Calvinists.

Over the following weeks this young pastor skilfully and eloquently presented his messages based upon Barrett’s teachings, and I could see that they were clearly an attempt to condition the people in the congregation. Each week the messages reinforced Calvinistic doctrines.

In February, 2005, he preached a message that he said was especially for those in the congregation who struggled with the problem of not being able to remember the actual time or place that they were born again and became a Christian. Among a number of other controversial things, such as him saying he thought it could be wrong for us to tell people that they need to be born again, he expounded upon his belief that regeneration precedes conversion.

Around about this time it was also announced that there was a youth camp coming up, to be held at the camp facility mentioned above in union with the other IB churches in the region. It was also announced that our young assistant pastor would be doing the preaching at the camp bringing a series of messages based upon a book written by John Piper, and as an incentive to the youth a free copy of the book was promised to all who would attend the camp.

Through my study into Calvinism I had learned that Piper is one of the main vehicles in our day through which the teachings of Calvinism and Reformed Theology are being propagated in the churches, particularly the fundamentalist IB churches. His own supporters actually say that he is the best author and teacher to use if you are wanting to introduce Calvinism into the teaching of the church and have it accepted.

While researching Calvinism I had engaged in a number of discussions with our pastor and, although he professed to be a two or three point Calvinist in his beliefs, he never pushed it and he always agreed with me on things like the word “world” in John 3:16 not referring only to the elect. He even professed that while he agreed some Scriptures seem to promote limited atonement, he also saw it refuted in 2 Peter 2:1. He once told me that people should just let the Bible speak for itself and not try to force someone’s system upon it, so obviously he wasn’t an enthusiastic Calvinist and I found it strange indeed that he was allowing this assistant pastor to freely teach the controversial things he was teaching on a Sunday night.

As I thought about the situation, I came to the conclusion that our pastor was allowing this recent BJU graduate to bring the messages so that he could come up to speed on the teachings himself. Here was a bright young man who had a clear handle on the current teachings coming out of the university and our pastor saw it as an opportunity to get his own understandings sorted out and keep abreast with the rest of the BJU taught pastors in our area.

Although this sounds like presumption, information that has since come to light about the strategies of Piper and his counsel to these young Calvinists about how to handle the older pastors who may not be so acquainted with the subject, I think my conclusions have substantial merit. In a recent Christianity Today article entitled “Young, Restless, Reformed – Calvinism is Making a Comeback – And Shaking up the Church”, I read the following.

“‘One of the most common things I deal with in younger pastors is conflict with their senior pastors,’ Piper said. ‘They're a youth pastor, and they've gone to Trinity or read something [R. C.] Sproul or I wrote, and they say, ‘We're really out of step. What should we do?’’ He tells them to be totally candid and ask permission to teach according to their newfound convictions, even if they are in Wesleyan-Arminian churches. Of course, he tells the young pastors to pray that their bosses would come to share their vision.”

With our young assistant pastor being an avid reader and promoter of Piper’s writings, and our senior pastor no doubt being influenced by his writings as well, it stands to reason that they were simply following Piper’s recommendations.

With the blatant Calvinistic teachings becoming more pronounced, and seeing the way in which these two pastors were taking the church, my wife and I decided we would need to speak with them. We did not believe the things that were being taught and we were concerned that our views would eventually cause conflict, so we arranged a meeting with them at our home.

When the pastors arrived, I expressed to them that I would not be getting into debates over Calvinism. I was as convinced that the belief system was wrong as they were that it was right. I did tell them though, that through my studies on the subject, I had come to the conclusion that Calvinism was an unsettled doctrine, that it was essentially a philosophy of man which catered to those who saw themselves as the intellectual elite, and that it was unscriptural.

In the meeting, we asked the pastors if they intended taking the church further down the path into Calvinism. They professed that they were indeed Calvinists in their beliefs and assured us that they would be continuing to promote Calvinism in the teachings from the pulpit and in the Bible College. We told them that we could no longer attend the church if that was the case and even though there was no other suitable church we could attend in the district we would have to leave for the sake of peace. We would eventually become a source of contention and division for them if we continued to attend. We held irreconcilable views and our separation was the only unfortunate option.

Consequently, and much to our dismay, in March 2005, we ceased from attending this church, that over a period of four and a half years, we had grown to love and support.

Although the meeting at our home with the pastors was without any animosity or argument, and we separated on good terms, a special Wednesday night meeting at the church was called by the pastors to explain our departure. Disappointingly, defamatory comments were made about me and I was painted in the worst possible light as an extreme person who really had no understanding of the subject I was opposed to. In a surprising display of intellectual pride he told the congregation that, because of their university training, he and the assistant pastor were likened to Jumbo pilots, whereas, by comparison, the people in the congregation were only on a level of Cessna pilots when it came to understanding the teachings of Calvinism. In case it might be thought that this was some innocent miscalculation of judgement, he also quoted this same belief during his private meeting with one of the families who also decided to leave the church for the same reasons as we had – the promotion of Calvinism in the teachings from the pulpit.

Perhaps it is understandable after the manner in which I was portrayed, but sadly, we have had virtually no contact with our former friends from the church. As with what happened when we were dismissed from the Assemblies of God for resisting false teaching, a good job had been done from the pulpit warning people to keep away from us.

From what I have read regarding this current thrust to have Calvinism promoted and accepted, splits are a common part of the outcome when the teaching is introduced into a church that formerly didn’t have it.

We are praying for the Lord to supply a pastor and raise up a truly Bible believing and obeying Fundamentalist Independent Baptist work here in our city. Indications are that the Lord has answered our prayers with an ex-missionary from the US who believes the Lord has called him to start just such a work here. Although it is months away, we are excited at the prospects of having such a fellowship for people who want to stand for the old paths.

Conclusion

Should we be surprised that these things are coming upon the professing churches? No, we should not be surprised.

“Now in this that I declare unto you I praise you not, that ye come together not for the better, but for the worse. For first of all, when ye come together in the church, I hear that there be divisions among you; and I partly believe it. For there must be also heresies among you, that they which are approved may be made manifest among you” (1 Corinthians 11:17-19).